prodEgy

Democratizing Education

2020/21
Pub Ad
Foundation
Booklet 1 : Introduction to the Approaches in Pub Ad
Booklet 2 : Evolution of Public Administration
Booklet 3 : PCT, NPA & NPM
Booklet 4 : Administrative Thinkers
Booklet 5 : Organisation Behaviour & Organisation Theory
Booklet 6 : CPA & Public Policy
Booklet 7 : Administrative Law
Booklet 8 : Techniques of Administrative Improvement
Booklet 9 : Case Studies and Good Governance
Booklet 10 : Additional Readings on Paper-1

by. ASHUTOSH PANDEY

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Foundation 2020
– Ashutosh Pandey

PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 1

Introduction to the Approaches

in Public Administration
 TOPICS

This booklet consist of the following topics:

1. Theory and practice.................................................................................................1-5

2. Approaches to the study of public administration......................................6-16

3. Postmodernism and public administration.....................................................17-19

4. Policy Sciences..........................................................................................................20-24

5. Open and Cooperative Systems..........................................................................25-26

6. Systems Approach - Views of David Easton and Chester Barnard.......27-29

 Chapter - 1

THEORY AND PRACTICE

As an aspect of government activity, administration has been Co-existing with every political system as the-
action Part of government for the fulfillment of the objectives set by the political decision-Makers. Functioning
of the Machineries of government has attracted the attention of scholars and observers since the tithe of
recorded history. Kautilya’s Arthasaitra, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana Contain many insightful observations
about the organizations and Working of government. In the history of western political thought, Aristotle’s
politics and Machiavelli’s The Prince are important contributions to both political and administrative issues and
ideas.
Public Administration as a specialized academic field deals essentially with the machinery and procedures of
government as these are used in the effective performance of government activities. Administration has been
defined as a cooperative human effort toward achieving some common goals. Thus articulated, Public
Administration can be found in various institutional settings like a business firm, a hospital, a university, a
government department and so on. As an aspect of this more generic concept, Public Administration is that
species of administration that operates within a specific political setting. It is a means by which the policy
decisions made by the political decision makers are carried out. In other words, it is the action part of
government, the means by which the purposes and goals of government are realized’.
The basic concerns of Public Administration as a field of study, therefore, include (a) structures of public
organizations dealing mainly with the way the executive organizations are formed, readjusted and reformed, (b)
administrative processes underlining the dynamic aspects of organization such as communication, control and
decision-making, (c) bureaucratic behaviour with emphasis on the inter-personal and inter-group relationships
in Organizational settings and (d) organization—environment interactions covering the influential and meaningful
relationships that are found to exist between Public Administration and its surrounding socio-political and
economic milieu. The study of structures, processes and behaviour has been greatly facilitated by the emerging
sub-discipline of organization theory. Its impact on Public Administration as an academic field-has been
considerable in recent times.
The ‘public’ aspect of Public Administration.’ lends special character to it. The adjective can be looked at
formally to mean ‘government’. So, Public Administration is government administration, the focus being
specifically on public bureaucracy. This is the meaning commonly used in discussing Public Administration.
What is crucial in Public Administration is that it is an agency of the public. Central to this approach is the
idea of the public ‘as an active participant in change, rather than as a passive and docile recipient of instructions
or of dispensed assistance’. The role of the -public is significant since public policies are the articulation of
priorities that emerge from social values and affirmations. Public’ in Public Administration has also been
expanded to include any administration that has consider’ able impact on the public. Hence, the Calcutta
Electric Supply Corporation, though a private company, can easily be an appropriate then for discussion in
Public Administration. Given the growing complexity of Public Administration, its wider connotation serves
a useful purpose. It would, therefore, not be proper to maintain the distinction between ‘public’ and ‘private’
as rigidly as it was construed earlier. In a situation in which ‘public’ is being appropriated for ‘private’ ends, the
narrow meaning of ‘public’ is not adequate to explain the reality, shaped by the apparently not visible social
forces and interests. Hence what is required, as Kuldeep Mathur argues, is the following:
An examination of the genesis of institutions of public administration because it reflects those social and
political forces that dominate at a particular time. The effectiveness of achieving aims of public policy will
depend on the motives of those groups or interests that brought these organizations into being. This perspective
demands that we look beyond the boundaries of organization and take into account wider societal forces which
give rise to specific interests that lead to the establishment of organizations.
Research on rural power structure in India has, for instance, demonstrated how ‘public’ resources have in many
instances been used for ‘private’ purposes and the local institutions like the panchayats and cooperatives have
been captured by the nip’ power elites. In such circumstances, the public administrative systems remain more
a legal facade since in reality the system is manipulated to promote private interests. The study of Public
Administration will therefore remain exclusively institutional and formalistic unless these ‘hidden, behind-the-
scene social forces and interests are laid bare to reveal the real nature of the administration.
Public Administration as a discipline has been evolving over the years since the Wilsonian call for specialized
study of ‘government’ to make it less’ un-business like’. Woodrwo Wilson’s 1887 article entitled. The Science
of Administration’ was written at a time when there was a crying need to eliminate corruption, improve
efficiently and streamline service delivery in pursuit of public interest. His advocacy that ‘there should be a
science of administration’ has to be seen in the historical context. Writing against the background of widespread
corruption, ‘science’ meant to Wilson a systematic and disciplined body of knowledge which he thought would
be useful to grasp and defuse the crisis in administration. While commenting on the domain of the administrators.
Wilson argued that the administrators should concentrate on operating the government rather than on substituting
their judgment for that of elected officials. So, there is a dichotomy between politics and administration
although Wilson later revised his stance by underlining that public Administration was innately political in
nature. According to him, ‘ [a] dministration cannot be Law without being distorted and robbed of its true
significance. Its foundations are these deep and permanent principles of politics.
If Wilson is the pioneer of the discipline Max Weber is its first theoretician who provided the discipline with
a solid theoretical base. His ‘ideal’ type of bureaucracy continues to remain fundamental in any conceptualization
of organization. Weber’s formulation has been characterized as ‘value neutral’; it simply provides a
conceptualization of a form of social organization with certain ‘ubiquitous’ characteristics. It can be examined
from three different paints of view which are not, of course, mutually exclusive. First, bureaucracy can be
viewed in terms of purely structural characteristics. In fact, the structural dimension has attracted the most
attention in the discussions on bureaucracy. The features like division of work and hierarchy have been
identified as important aspects of structure. Secondly, bureaucracy has been sought to be defined in terms of
behavioural characteristics. Certain patterns of behaviour form an integral part of bureaucracy According to
Weber, The more the bureaucracy is “dehumanized” the more completely it succeeds in eliminating from
business love, hatred, and all purely personal irrational and emotional elements which escape calculation. This
is the specific nature of bureaucracy and its special virtue’ (emphasis added). Thirdly, bureaucracy has also been
looked at from the point of view of achievement of purpose. This is an instrumental view of bureaucracy. As
Peter Blau suggests, it should be considered as an ‘organization that maximizes efficiency in administration or
an institutionalized method of organized social conduct in the interests of administrative efficiency.
What is distinctive in Weberian formulation is the attempt to construct ‘an ideal type’ or a mental map of a
‘fully-developed’ bureaucracy. The ideal type is a mental construct that cannot be found in reality. It is an
abstraction and as such exaggerates certain features and de-emphasizes certain others to convey ‘an image’ or
‘an idea’. It will, therefore, be theoretically misleading to argue that Weber’s ideal type is nothing but a
comment on civil services. It refers, in fact, to the sociological concept of ‘rationalization of collective activities’.
As a form or design of organization, it assures predictability of behaviour of members, associated with the.
organizational activities. The bureaucratic form, according to Weber, is the most efficient organizational form
for large scale, complex administration, developed so far in the modern world. It is superior to any other form
in decision, precision stability, maintenance of discipline and reliability.
The evolution of Public Administration has been ably documented in many books and there is no point in
repeating the successive stages of its evolution. However, it seems fair to suggest that the literature that is
available on it has tended to focus around two different visions of Public Administration. The first, termed as
‘a discretionist’ vision characterizes Public Administration as almost an independent or autonomous agent for
the advancement of government actions that promote ‘public interest. By defining public interest in accordance
with their own properly informed and ethically guided notions, civil servants should, according to this vision,
discharge their duties. The second, which might be described as ‘an instrumentalist’ vision, identifies Public
Administration almost entirely as an instrument of the political will of a community, as expressed through its
elected political leaders. As mere instruments, the civil servants, according to this vision, must ascertain and
perform their assigned ‘functions following directions of the elected representatives of the people. Our objective
here is to identify some of the salient dimensions of the discipline that have already emerged in recent times.
Obviously, this exercise is a highly selective one and the criterion for selection is the explanatory strength of
a new thrust that has produced a major impact on methodological and/or substantive aspects of the discipline.
It needs to emphasized at the outset that there is no unanimity among the scholars about the boundaries of
the discipline and its theoretical frameworks. The principal thrusts of Public Administration have in recent
times been as follows:
(a) the normative concern;
(b) the inter-theoretical linkages;
(c) the post-Weberian debate over bureaucracy-democracy relationship
(d) the radical critique of development administration; and
(e) a general Marxist orientation toward public administration analysis.
The discipline has, however, moved beyond the above areas of interests in response to governmental practice.
More specifically, the New Right Movement has spawned New Public Management; and the good governance
philosophy—a la the World Bank-has reoriented Public Administration toward the multiple actors in governance
beyond the traditional monopoly of formal government.
The Normative Dimension
Despite Herbert Simon’s effort to formulate positivistic decision-making theory, the normative questions have
in recent times been reasserted to illuminate the meaning of ‘efficiency’ in public administration. The resurgence
of `value’ questions could be traced back to the post-behavioural era in Political Science. It is, however, the
emergence of the philosophy of ‘neo-liberalism’ that has provided a powerful base for the sitting of Public
Administration in ‘Public interest philosophy as propounded by such philosophers as John Rawls and Robert
Nozick. Especially Rawls’ monumental work, A Theory of Justice has profoundly influenced the ethical
dimension in Public Administration analysis. Generally speaking, however, normative research in this filed is
highly underdeveloped. Evaluation of administrative behaviour calls for standards against which alone can
moral claims in the exercise of bureaucratic discretion be judged. In tis connection, the two opposite schools
of administration suggested by Donald P. Warwidk- administrative Darwinsim and Weberian Idealism – are
of some significance. In the first school, the officials are portrayed as players in games of self-interest, and
in the other, there is a combination of conformity with directives from above and an internalized understanding
of proper behaviour for career officials.
Inter-Theoretical Bridge Building
Public Administration analysis has in recent times shed: much of its analytical and uni-disciplinary myopia.
This is in keeping with the general trend in the Social Sciences to evolve a culture of shared epistemology, as
disciplinary parochialism has been found to be an impediment to meaningful social explanation. Three distinct
inter-theoretical linkages that have been attempted recently can be identified as:
(i) politics-administration union;
(ii) economics-administration confluence and the political economy and
(iii) organization theory and administration inter-mixing.
The first-inter theoretical linkage has a fairly long tradition that can be traced to the earlier debates over politics-
administration dichotomy. With more and more ‘policy science’ orientation in Public Administration, politics
came to be reunited with administration. But the real thrust toward ‘political and value-loaded’ public
Administration came from the ‘New Public Administration’ Movement starting from the 1968 Minnowbrook
Conference. Public Administration is, it was asserted just another expression for the study of politics. It is
ultimately a problem in political theory. Relating administration to the ‘political’ was the central focus of the
New Public Administration School. Articulating this new approach, Peter Self thus argues, the political approach
is concerned with the rules of accountability and the control of administrative power, while the managerial
approach, as conventionally followed in Public Administration, is concerned with the rules of effective work
organization and task performance.
The second inter-theoretical linkage brings Public Administration within the purview of economic analysis.
The study of public sector bureaucracy by A. D owns, G . Tullock and W. A. Niskanen has exploded the myth
of ‘neutral’ and ‘rational’ bureaucracy and the real life bureaucracy has been revealed as one of self-
aggrandizement, resource manipulation and generally antithetical to ‘public’ interest. The contribution of
economics to organization theory has also been noteworthy.
The study of the economics of information, as in Arrow’s examination of the motives for vertical integration
has influenced organizational structuring including incentives structuring. J. K Galbraith’s Economics and the
Public Purpose marks a novel distinction between the ‘market system’ and the ‘planning system’. The organizations
in the market system have been found to be behaving differently from those in the planning system. The
allocative and distributive decisions in the former are impersonally determined while similar decisions in the
latter are made by the procedures themselves. Galbraith’s The New Industrial State coined the term
‘technostructure’ to refer to the power of knowledge in the hands of the specialists. This is a conceptual
innovation in organization study.
Internal organizational forms have been more elaborately treated by O. E. Williamson whose name is associated
with the U-Form and M-Form structure. In the former, each operating unit performs a specialized function for
all product lines; while in the latter, operating divisions or quasi-firms exist to perform all specialized functions
for a single product.
A major inter-theoretical confluence has been termed the ‘political economy’ paradigm. As M.N. Zald puts it,
‘political economy is the study of the interplay of power, the goals of power wielders and the productive
exchange system’. While discussing decision making and resource allocation, this new paradigm focuses on
both political and economic dimensions. It has spawned the two important concepts of ‘organizational
constituents’ and ‘internal polity’. The first concept refers to the fundamental normative structure of agreements
and understandings, defining limits, goals, responsibilities and rights. of participants. The second concept illuminates
the political character of the organizational milieu where the distribution of resources and the process of
conflict resolution are important determinants of allocative and distributive decisions.
The strength of the political economy approach lies in the fact that the political dimension highlights the
process through which authority is distributed giving rise to power differentials, and the economic dimension
focuses on the allocative process, but ‘at the same time incorporates such variables as power and authority. The
paradigmatic shift is in part due to an ever-growing intellectual hostility to Parsonian functionalism and its
associated positivism. By contrast, a phenomenological orientation lays emphasis on the inter-subjective and
symbolic dimension of organizational structure and roles?
Organization Theory-Administration Intermixing
Public Administration has traditionally been an ally of organizational theory. Advances in organization theory
- open system analysis, contingency theories, socio-technical system analysis, organic mechanistic distinction—
have found ready acceptance in administrative theory. Analysis of complex organizations falls into two broad
categories: the structural analysis and the interactive perspective. The structuralists such as Blau and Perrow
have viewed organizations as coherent systems and the participants in them as passive instrumentalists. By
contrast, the interactive perspective views organizations as aggregates and organizational members as proactive
and initiative-taking.
Current debates in organization theory that have relevance to Public Administration revolve round the ‘goal
paradigm’ and the ‘rational model’. The new issues centre around the concepts of ‘power’ and ‘action’. The
action approach lays emphasis on the process through which particular organization patterns are created and
maintained. Approaches such as ‘the political economy’ model, strategic.
 Chapter - 2
APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
As public administration is a generalized human activity concerned with the ordering of men and materials
required to achieve collective social ends, it has drawn widely from the various social sciences. Since its birth,
the study of public administration has been growing in different directions and today it involves complex
concerns and functions. There have been numerous attempts by different scholars to explain the different
aspects of public administration. The result is that the public administration consists of relatively distinct
approaches that grow out of the different perspectives that shape its structures and functions. Each approach
gives a particular point of view of administrative activity. These different approaches are best regarded as ways
in which to approach the study of public administration. There are a number of approaches to the study of
public-administration:
Institutional Approach
Perhaps, the earliest approach to public administration may be designated as the institutional approach. This
approach is largely based on the legal rights and obligations of the government. It tends to emphasize formal
relationships and the separation of powers among the three branches of the government. Policy and administration
are often separated’, with the assumption that the role of administrators is almost entirely confined to merely
carrying out policies designed by the political arms of the government. The generalizations of this approach
were often based upon formal analyses of organizational structure and the constitutional delegation of authority
and responsibility to the three branches of the government. A major emphasis of this approach is upon the
normative question of responsibility. The focus is upon the ways and means of keeping public administration
responsible to the elected branches of government and to the average citizen (Presthus 1975: 7).
Structural Approach
This approach was much influenced by scientific management and the success of American corporations that
tend to focus upon organizational structure and personnel management. The supporters, of this approach
concentrate their attention on the study of formal administrative structures, their functions, and the limitations
imposed on their activities, They treat public administration as non-political and a purely technical organization
based on certain scientific principles. They believe that public administration has nothing to do with politics
and policy-making. Its main function is to carry out politically determined policies effectively and efficiently.
They hold the view that the tasks of an organization are pre-determined and that, employees have to adjust
themselves to the tasks assigned to them. To some extent, the role of the individual and the so-called informal
organization was neglected. This approach has sometimes been criticized for not relating public administration
to its political environment, and not emphasizing adequately, the fact that organizations are composed of
human beings and When decisions are made, they are, in the last analysis, made by individuals. Thus, this
approach is sometimes known as the ‘organization without people’ approach.
Behavioural Approach
The behavioural approach to the study of public administration focuses on the actual behaviour of individuals
and groups in real organizations. This approach argues that one cannot understand the actual functioning of
organizations without .understanding why people act as they do. Hence, the behaviouralists have come to apply
the knowledge of social psychology, anthropology, psychology and many other disciplines in an effort to secure
a better un-* derstanding of the actual human behaviour within organizations: The main aim of this approach
is to establish a body of knowledge. that facilitates understanding, explaining, and prediction of human behaviour
in administrative situations.
In contrast to the earlier appruaches, the behavioural approach tends to focus quite strongly on methodological
problems, the use of survey analysis to determine organizational reality, and is concerned with the human
aspects of administration and decision-making. It attempts to build descriptive and analytical generalizations
about organizations and administration. One of its normative assumptions is that it is possible to build an
administrative science through careful research on organizations and the behaviour of those who work in them.
Herbert Simon and Robert Dhal have been among the pioneers of this approach to the study of public
administration.
System Approach
In general, system theory means that the administration is seen as a system of interrelated and interdependent
parts and forces. The administrative system receives ‘inputs’ in the form of demands from the people and
converts them into ‘outputs’ which takes the form of goods and services. The system theory owes its origin
to the biologist Ludwig Von Bertalanffy. In sociology, Talcott Parsons applied system .approach to the study
of social structures and political scientists like David Easton and G. Almondhave made use of system analysis
in political science and thus contributed much to the literature on empirical political theory. The system
approach is now being widely used in organizational analysis. It has proved to be a very useful tool for the
conceptualization of the organization and its internal and external relationships. The system approach facilitates
information exchange between parts of the system. It is very relevant to the study of complex public organizations
that have huge diversified structures.
Ecological Approach
The ecological approach to the study of public administration views public bureaucracy as a social institution
which is continuously interacting with the economic, political, and sociocultural sub-systems of a society.
Bureaucracy is not only affected by these environmental systems but also affects them in turn. Thus, this
approach emphasizes the necessary interdependence of public bureaucracy and its environment. Fred W Riggs
is a strong advocate of this approach. In his opinion, administrative institutions are shaped and affected by their
social, economic, cultural, and political environment. Therefore, he emphasizes the fact that in order to understand
better the real nature, operations, and behaviour of a particular administrative system, one should identify, and
understand deeply the various environmental factors influencing it. The ecological approach determines how an
administrative system operates in practice. Thus, it is useful to understand administrative realities.
Comparative Approach to Public Administration
The comparative approach to public administration seeks to compare the administrative structures of different
nations with different cultural settings. The Comparative Administrative Group has defined it as the public
administration applied to diverse cultures and national setting and the body of factual data, by which it can
be examined and tested. The purpose of such comparisons is to find out the universal elements in public
administration and build a theory of public administration, Woodrow Wilson was the first what stressed the
need for a comparative study of public administration. In 1947, Robert Dahl, in his essay, ‘The Science of
Public Administration: Three Problems’ also emphasized the utility of comparative public administration to
develop a science of public administration. However, the comparative approach to public administration became
popular only after the Second World War with the emergence of new nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America. These nations were facing the challenges of modernization and technological development. It was
hoped that a science of comparative public administration would provide insights into such problems and yield
some useful hypotheses about administrative behaviour in general. Two important figures in this field are Ferrel
Heady and Fred Riggs. The comparative approach to public administration is not only useful to strengthen the
theory-building process in public administration but also helps us to know whether the administrative practices
in a particular nation are applicable to other nations or not. On the basis of this, the applicability of the
administrative models can be judged and practised in other political systems.
Public Policy Approach
The public policy approach aims at improving the public policy process. It is a systematic and scientific study
of public policy. The main concern of policy approach is with the understanding and improvement of the
public—policy-making system. The concept of policy approach was first formulated by D. Lerner and Harold
Lasswell in their work, The Policy Science in 1951. Public policy is a significant component of any political
system. It is primarily concerned with the public and their problems. The role of a public policy is to shape
the society for its betterment. W. Parsons while narrating the role of public policy says that the wider purposes
of public policy is involving enlightenment, the fuller development of individuals in society and the development
of consensus, social awareness and legitimacy, rather than simply the delivery of goods and services, Public
policies, thus, involve improving the democratic and. political capacities of the people, and not simply the
‘efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of services. This also implies that public policy has a:participatory
and democratic character. Public policy has assumed considerable importance in response to the increasing
complexity of the society. Public policy helps in explaining the causes and consequences of government
activity. Public policies not only help us to understand social ills but also provide devices and mechanisms for
moving a social and economic system from the past to the future.
Political Economy Approach
Political economy approach is concerned with the moving of political Science closer to economics in the
interest of greater theoretical coherence and better policy guidance. Economists like Anthony Downs and
Gordon Tullock have applied this interdisciplinary approach by experimenting with the application of economic
methods. to political problems. Thus, public administration as a branch of political science and on its own has
moved closer to economics. Political economy most commonly refers to interdisciplinary studies drawing upon
economics, law, and political science in explaining how political institutions, the political environment, and the
economic system influence ‘each other. ‘Traditional’ topics include the influence of elections on the choice of
economic policy, determinants of electoral outcomes, the political business cycles, redistributive conflicts in
fiscal policy, and the politics of delayed reforms in developing countries and of excessive deficits. From the
late 1990s, the field has expanded to explore such wide-ranging topics as the origins and rate of change of
political institutions, and the role of culture in explaining economic outcomes and developments. When more
narrowly construed, it analyses such public policy as monopoly, market protection, institutional corruption, and
rent seeking. Amore classical—liberal approach which dates from. the 1970s that denotes ‘public-choice theory
type approaches which question the benevolence of social planners to maximize the utility of a representative
individual.
Both economists and public administrationists understand that there is a lot we do not know—to the extent
that we share a common interest in efficiency and economy—recognize that we ‘can learn, much from each
other by pursuing convergence and interplay between economic models and long-standing insights from public
administration.
Public-choice Approach
The public-choice approach to the study of public administration emerged in the early 1960s. An early
reference to this theory is found in the writings of Vincent Ostrom. The other important supporters of public-
choice approach are James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, William A. Niskanen, and William’ C. -Mitchell. Public
choice theory is a method to study the decisional processes for the allocation of scarce resources in the society:
It lays emphasis on the element of choice, with the citizen in the role of consumer. It is in favour of the
citizen’s choice in the provision of public goods and services. The advocates of this approach assume that the
individual can make rational decisions about his needs and demands. An individual will act in accordance with
his self-interest in order to maximize his decision. Thus, the supporters of this approach demand that the
actions of the government should be consistent with the values and interests of its citizens. Vincent Ostrom
remarks that public-choice theory is the most appropriate approach to the study of public administration. He
suggests public administration scholars to turn away from the traditional bureaucratic approach towards the
public-choice approach.
Evolution of Public Administration as a Discipline
Public administration is both a field of activity and a field of systematic study. As a part of government
activity, it has existed ever since the emergence of an organized political system. However, as a field of
systematic study, it is of recent origin. Indeed, there is no sharp point in history where the story of public
administration begins. However, an essay by Woodrow Wilson in 1887 is often taken as the symbolic beginning.
Wilson’s article entitled. ‘The Study of Administration’, published in Political Science Quarterly, was written
at a time when there was a crying need to eliminate corruption improve efficiency, and streamline service
delivery in pursuit of public interest. His advocacy that there should be a science of administration has to be
seerari its historical context. Wilson’s basic postulate was that, it is getting to be harder to run a constitution
than to ‘frame one Writing against the background of widespread corruption, science meant, to Wilson; a
systematic and disciplined body of knowledge which he thought would be useful to grasp and defuse crisis in
administration. ‘While commenting on the domain of administrators, Wilson argued that administrators should
concentrate on operating the government rather than on substituting their judgement for that of elected
officials. The administration was separate from politics and was confined to the execution of policies. So, there
is a dichotomy between politics and administration.
While Wilson gave the call, it was Frank J. Goodnow who practically fathered the movement for evolving the
discipline of public administration in the United States of America (USA). In his book Politics and
Administration, he also draws a functional distinction between politics and administration. He writes, ‘The
former having to do with the politics or expression of the state’s will, the later with the execution of the
policies’ (Goodnow 1900: 10-11), Public administration began picking up academic legitimacy in the 1920s,
notable in this regard was the publication of Leopard D. White’s Introduction to the Study of Public
Administration in 1926, the first textbook entirely devoted to the field. It reflected the general characteristics
of public administration as non-partisan. Public administration was stated to be a ‘value-free’ science and the
mission of administration would be economy and efficiency. While not rejecting politics per se, the public
administration reformers of this period sought better government by expanding administrative functions (planning
and analysing), ,keeping them distinct from political functions (deciding). The politics-administration dichotomy
emerged as a conceptual orientation whereby the world of government was to be divided into two functional
areas, one administrative, and another political.
W.F. Willoughby’s book Principles of Public Administration (1927) appeared as the second textbook in the
field and reflected the new thrust of public administration. These were that certain scientific principles of
administration existed, they could be discovered, and administrators would be expert in their work if they
learned how to .apply these said principles (Henry 2007). The work of Frederick Taylor and the concept of
scientific management were ‘to have a profound effect on public administration for the entire period between
the two world wars. Taylor believed that his scientific principles of management were universally applicable.
He was keen to apply them to public administration and supported attempts by his disciples to employ
scientific management techniques in defence establishments. One of the first ‘test of applicability occurred
when the Taft Commission on Economy and Efficiency undertook the first comprehensive investigation of
federal administration. Its recommendations closely followed scientific management principles. This period
reached its climax in 1937 when Luther Gulick and Urwick coined seven principles `POSDCORB’ (Planning,
Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, and Budgeting) in their essay ‘The Science of
Administration’. Thus, this period marked by the tendency to rein-force the idea of politics—administration
dichotomy and to evolve a value-free science of management. The central belief was that there are certain
principles of administration, and it is the task of scholars to discover them and to promote their application.
Economy and efficiency was the main objective of the administrative system.
If Wilson is the pioneer of the discipline, Max Weber is its first theoretician who provided the discipline with
a solid theoretical base. His ‘ideal’ type of bureaucracy continues to remain fundamental in any conceptualization
of organization. Weber’s formulation has been characterized as ‘value neutral’, It simply provides a
conceptualization of a form of social organization with certain ubiquitous characteristics. It can be examined
from three different points of view, which are not, of course, mutually exclusive. First, bureaucracy can be
viewed in terms of purely structural characteristics. In fact, the structural dimension has attracted the most
attention in the discussions on bureaucracy. Features like division of work and hierarchy are identified as
important aspects of structure. Second, bureaucracy can be defined in terms of behavioural characteristics.
Certain patterns of behaviour form an integral part of bureaucracy. According to Weber, the more ‘bureaucracy
is dehumanized, the more completely it succeeds in eliminating from official business love, hatred, and all
purely personal, irrational, and emotional elements which escape calculation. This is ‘the specific nature of
bureaucracy and its special virtue’ (Weber 1946) (emphasis added), Third, bureaucracy can also be looked at
from the point of view of achievement of purpose. This is an instrumentalist view of bureaucracy. As Peter
Blau suggests, it should be considered as an ‘organization that maximizes efficiency in administration or an
institutionalized method of organized social conduct in the interests of administrative efficiency’ (Blau 1956).
What is distinctive in the Weberian formulation is the attempt to construct an ‘ideal type’ or a mental map
of a ‘fully-developed’ bureaucracy. The ideal type is a mental construct that cannot be found in reality. The
bureaucratic form, according to Weber, is the most efficient organizational form for large-scale, complex
administration developed so far in the modern world. It is superior to any other form in precision, stability,
maintenance of discipline, and reliability.
Following the Second World War, many of the previously accepted theories of public administration came
under attack. Under the crisis decision-making atmosphere of the Second World War, Washington quickly
exposed the politics—administration dichotomy as a false division. The rapid pace of mobilization decisions
in a wartime environment quickly demonstrated the necessity for flexibility, creativity, and discretion in decision-
making. The rigid, hierarchically based proverbs of administrative practice proved totally ineffective in such
an environment. Finally, as a result of these experiences, now the attempt was reintroduce a focus on the
broader social, moral, and political theoretical effectiveness to challenge the dogma of managerial effectiveness.
In 1938, Chester I. Barnard’s The Functions of the Executive challenged the politics—administration dichotomy.
Dwight Waldo, a leading critic, questioned the validity of ‘principles’ borrowed from the scientific
management movement in business and urged the development of a philosophy or theory of administration
based upon broader study and a recognition of the fact that public administration cannot be fruitfully studied
from its political and social setting. The most formidable dissection of principles appeared in Herbert Simon’s
Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-making Processes in Administration Organization (1947), a
volume of such intellectual force that it led to Simon’s receiving the Nobel Prize in 1978. Simon proposed the
development of a new science of administration based on theories and methodology of logical positivism. The
focus of such a science would be decision-making. He maintained that to be scientific it must exclude value
judgements and concentrate attention on facts, adopt precise definition of terms, apply rigorous analysis, and
test factual statements or postulates about administration (Corsen and Harris 1967). Simon’s work sets forth
the rigorous requirements of scientific analysis in public administration. About some of the classical ‘principles;
Simon’s conclusion was that these were unscientifically’ derived and were no more than proverbs.
The pioneering studies which resulted from the experiments in the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric
Company in the late 1920s also challenged many prevailing ideas about incentives and human behaviour in
groups. Since the Second World War similar studies have been carried on at a number of universities. These
studies of human behaviour stress the human aspect of administration; the need of employees for recognition,
security, and ego-satisfaction; and the importance of the social environment and group attitudes in work
situations. They reach the conclusion that employee-oriented supervision is more effective than production-
minded, authoritarian supervision (Carson and Harris 1967). Thus, these studies brought out the limitations of
the machine concept of organization by drawing attention to the social and psychological factors of the work
situation.
The claim that public administration is a science was challenged by Dahl in his ‘The Science of Public
Administration: Three Problems’ (1947). He argued that the quest for principles of administration was obstructed
by three factors: values, individual personalities, and social framework. Dahl argued that a science of public
administration cannot emerge unless We,have a comparative public administration. He further hoped that the
study of public administration inevitably must become a much more broadly based discipline, resting not on
a narrowly defined-knowledge of techniques and processes, but rather extending to the varying historical,
sociological, economic, and other conditioning factors.
Thus, dissent from mainstream public administration accelerated in the 1940s in two mutually reinforcing
directions. One objection was that politics and administration could never be separated in any remotely sensible
fashion. The other was that the principles of administration were something less than the final expression of
managerial rationality.
In the post, Second World War period, the emergence of new nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have
set in a new trend in the study of public administration. Western scholars, particularly the American scholars,
began to show much interest in the study of the varied administrative patterns of the newly independent
nations. In this context, they recognized the importance of the relevance of environmental factors and their
impact on the different administrative systems in these nations. This factor largely accounts for the development
of comparative, ecological, and development administration perspectives in the study of public administration
(Naidu, Apparao, and Mallikarjunayya 1986). In this regard, the contribution of Ferrel Heady, F.W. Riggs, and
Edward Wiedner is significant. The cross-cultural and cross-national administrative studies have provided the
impetus needed for the extension of the scope of public administration.
The period of the late 1960s was a time of academic foments that yielded a new perspective which was a
distinctly public perspective. This was the new public administration. In the late 1960s, a group of young
American scholars voiced strong resentment against the contemporary nature of discipline. At the Minnowbrook
Conference I (1968), they advocated for what is known as new public administration to make the study and
practice of the subject relevant to the needs of the-emerging post-industrial society. The said conference was
truly a wake-up call for the theorists and the practitioners alike to make the discipline socially relevant and
accountable. It was held in the backdrop of a turbulent time which was marked by a series of contemporary
developments like social upheavals in the form of ethnic skirmishes across the American cities, campus clashes,
Vietnam War and its repercussions in American society, and the like. Above developments coupled with a deep
sense of dissatisfaction among the practitioners regarding the present state of the discipline, especially its
obsession with efficiency and economy, had ushered in a qualitatively improved phase in public administration,
subsequently christened as new public administration. The Minnowbrook Conference I was famous for bringing
about arguably a new era in public administration informed with relevance, values, social equity, and change.
Public interest formed the core of the deliberations. Relating administration to the ‘political’ was the central
focus of the new public administration school.
Public choice school is another landmark in the evolution of public administration, Far from accepting bureaucracy
as ‘rational’ and ‘efficient; the protagonists of this school have been highly sceptical about its structure and
actual operating behaviour. The argument of Niskanen, Downs, and Tullock, in this context, is based on the
assumption of administrative egoism. The bureaucrats are, in their view, individualistic self-seekers ‘who would
’46 more harm than good to public welfare unless ‘their self-seeking activities are carefully circumscribed’ (Das
1998). This explains the tendency towards bureaucratic growth that brings in more and more rewards for the
officials and quid pro quo. To mitigate the evils of bureaucratic monopoly, Niskanen (1971) suggests the
following steps:
• stricter control on bureaucrats through the executive or legislature;
• more competition in the delivery of public services;
• privatization or contracting-out to reduce wastage; and
• dissemination of more information for public benefit about the availability of alternatives to public
services, offered on a Competitive basis and at competitive costs.
The public choice school has been successful in pointing out that, there are alternatives available for the
delivery of services to citizens.. The role of the market as a competing paradigm has challenged the hegemonic
position of the state. Also the power of the bureaucracy has been similarly slashed, opening up possibilities
of non-bureaucratic citizen-friendly organizational options.
The Minnowbrook Conference II, which was held in 1988, is another landmark in the evolution of public
administration. The outcome of the conference gave birth to the new public management (NPM) approach to
governance. Its emergence reflected the changes that took place in the Western nations. State as major dispenser
of social justice had been increasingly questioned across the globe since late 1970s. The popular mood was
against the state for its dismal performance in almost every sphere—social, political, and economic. Recent
changes in the form governance in advanced Western countries also contributed to the development of NPM.
From late 1980s and early 1990s public sector management in the advanced Western democracies underwent
a sea change. NPM is depicted as a normative conceptualization of public administration consisting of several
interrelated components: providing high-quality services that citizens value; increasing the autonomy of public
managers; rewarding organizations and individuals on the basis of whether they meet demanding targets;
making available human and technological resources that managers need to perform well; and, appreciative of
the virtues of competition, maintaining an open-minded attitude about which public purposes should be
performed by the private sector, rather than public sector.
The main features of the NPM are:
• It proposes a thorough organizational revamping so that organizational structure will become conducive for
organizational leadership. Organizational restructuring includes simplifying organizational procedures,
flattening of hierarchies, and so on;
• One of the major hallmarks of NPM is the empowerment of citizens. Unlike the traditional public sector,
it reconceptualizes citizens as ‘active customers’ to be always kept in good humour;
• It calls for more autonomy for the public sector managers. It is in favour of greater elbowroom for
managerial leaddrship by providing public managers with greater flexibility in. personnel policy like contractual
appointment, workplace bargaining, and so on;
• application of rigorous performance measurement technique is another hallmark of NPM;
• it suggests disaggregation of public bureaucracies into agencies, which will deal with each other on a user-
pay basis;
• inspired by New Right philosophy, the NPM is in favour of cost-cutting in public sector;
• it encourages quasi-markets and contracting out techniques to ensure better management of ailing cash-
strapped public sector; and
• it believes in a decentralized form of governance. It encourages all kinds of organizational and spatial
decentralization.
The NPM focuses on the entrepreneurial government. It is a participatory management and community-owned
governance, in which citizens are considered as active consumers and not as passive recipients of programmes
and policies. The main motto is to empower citizens.
The publication of Reinventing Government by Osborne and Gaebler (1992) redefined the functions of the
government. The authors argue in favour of ‘entrepreneurial government’ that is certain to bring about radical
changes by (a) improving public management through performance, measurement, and evaluation, (b) reducing
budgets, (c) downsizing the government, (d) selective privatization of public enterprises, and (e) contracting out
in selective areas. Thus, the focus is on de-bureaucratization, democratization, and decentralization of the
administrative processes in the interest of the citizens. The concept of governance has further led to the
recognition of the role of multiple agencies in organizing and undertaking public business. In addition to formal
governments, the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations has
been acknowledged as supplementary public agencies.
In the late 1990s, Janet and Robert Denhardt have proposed a new public service model in response to the
dominance of NPM. A successor to NPM is digital-era governance, focusing on themes of reintegrating
government responsibilities, needs-based holism (executing duties in cursive ways), and digitalization (exploiting
the transformational capabilities of modern IT and digital storage). Another new public service model is what
has been called new public governance, an approach which includes a centralization of power; an increased
number, role, and influence of partisan-political staff; personal-politicization of appointments to the senior
public service; and, the assumption that the public service is promiscuously partisan for the government of the
clay.
Globalization is another phenomenon which has brought a paradigm shift in the nature and scope of public
administration. It has virtually unshackled the discipline from the classical bondage of structure and paved the
way for a more flexible, less-hierarchical, and accommodative kind of discipline informed by networks and
collaboration. However, more than two decades down the line, ever since globalization was first thrust upon
the nation states, public administration did show absolutely no sign of receding. On the contrary, rendering
those dooms-day predictions wrong, public administration reincarnated in a readjusted form to cope with the
new set of challenges. In fact, globalization had increased the urgency of having a more proactive public
administration. However, the traditional notion of public administration with a sheltered bureaucracy, rigid
hierarchy, and organizational principle no longer exists today. Both structurally and functionally, public
administration has experienced a metamorphosis of sort. Structurally speaking, thanks to the sweeping
socioeconomic—political transformation under globalization, the rigid, hierarchical, and bureaucratic form of
governance has given way to a more flexible, de-hierarchical, and post-bureaucratic form of governance based
on networks and partnership. Similarly, at the functional level public administration has witnessed a profound
transformation in the form of delivery of public goods and services. Until recently, the delivery of goods and
services was considered as one of the important functions of public administration. But, the onset of globalization
and the eventual rolling back of the welfare state ushered in a new collaborative form of public administration,
where state administration has had to readjust itself to deliver public goods and services in collaboration with
the innumerable other players and NGOs functioning at the societal level.
Hence, public administration in the era of globalization has been playing a new role of ‘enabler’ or ‘facilitator’
by privatizing the substantial part of welfare delivery functions. Several methods have been used to
facilitate the privatization of welfare delivery, namely, contracting out, encouraging private provision, introducing
quasi-markets, mobilizing voluntary sectors; and the like. However, the shift from the role of a direct provider
to a facilitator of welfare delivery has not made public administration redundant. In fact, it has continued to
enjoy its key position. The centrality of public administration is neither denied by the state nor by the market.
Though, the rationale of having a public administration differs widely, for a state, a vibrant public administration
is fundamental for its sustenance. It provides the state with adequate support mechanism to govern: In a market
economy, public administration has a great instrumental value, which not only facilitates the smooth functioning
of the market, but also legitimizes ‘its operations within a society. Market economy is also anxious to add a
human face by provisioning the key social services. The significance of public administration will remain
despite globalization as Farazmand has reassured us about its continuity as a self-conscious enterprise and as
a professional field, in the broader sense of the terra (Farazmand 1999). Globalization has ‘transformed the
nature and character of state from traditional administrative welfare state to a corporate welfare state’ with the
corresponding changes in the nature of public administration (Farazmand 1999). In a traditional public
administration set-up, an elaborate administrative mechanism put in place to facilitate the smooth delivery of
public services, which was popularly known as ‘public administration model of welfare delivery. This model
envisaged an impartial and efficient administration, informed with five distinctive features, namely, a bureaucratic
structure, professional domination, accountability to the public, equity of treatment, and self-sufficiency (Butcher
1995). However, such providential nature of services had come under severe challenge with the emergence of
market alternative advocated by the New Right movement in the West from the late 1970s to early 1980s.
A bold step like the privatization of welfare delivery was prescribed on the pretext of efficiency and economy.
The introduction of the globalization package under the garb of the structural adjustment programme (SAP)
in the early 1990s had further accentuated demand mooted by the advocates of the New Right movement.
The Minnowbrook Conference III, 2008
In the evolution of public administration as a field of enquiry, the Minnowbrook Conference III that was held
in 2008 was as important as the earlier Minnowbrook conferences of 1968 and 1988. While the Minnowbrook
Conference I that took place in 1968 marked the beginning of new public administration (NPA), the second
conference, held in 1988, reflected on the impact of NPA as a theoretical discourse for the discipline in the
context of globalization. The context of the Minnowbrook Conference I is not significantly different though
globalization has manifested itself in a varied form which was inconceivable for the participants of the 1988
Minnowbrook Conference. Unlike the first two conferences, the Minnowbrook Conference III was held in two
parts: in the first pre-conference workshop at the original Minnowbrook site on Blue Mountain Lake, the junior
faculty members presented their views to initiate debates on ‘the problem areas’ of contemporary public
administration; the second workshop was held in Lake Placid, in which scholars of all ages and degrees of
experience participated. This division of the conference was useful in conceptualizing the difficulties that public
administration was confronting in a globalizing world in two different and yet complementary perspectives: one
perspective, rooted in the complex texture of globalization, seemed to have governed the effort at building
universal models, and the other related to the quest for context-specific models, underlining simultaneously the
possible influences from the wider global milieu. It was, therefore, an occasion to chart the future road map
for public administration by involving both senior academics like Frederickson, Lambright, and Rosemary
O’Leary and as well as their younger counterparts. By strongly arguing for a context-driven perspective, the
younger colleagues forcefully put their points on the table. And, there is no doubt that the new scholars’
critique seemed to have set the agenda for the Minnowbrook Conference III. As it was articulated, the critique
reflected the genuine concern of those seeking to conceptualize public administration as an organic discipline
that was equipped adequately to respond to the new demands of global human concern. Primarily, the scholars
focused on four specific areas of ‘discomfort’ that appeared to have been critical in contemorary research.
These four specific areas of concerns relate to (a) the nature of public administration in the changed environment
of a globalizing world, (b) the complexities of the market-oriented NPM, (c) the impact of interdisciplinary
borrowing on the methodological core of the discipline, and (d) the growing importance of networked governance
and collaborative public management in reconceptualizing public administration in a rapidly changing
socioeconomic and political milieu. Public administration has, thus, become a complex area of human endeavour
simply because of the equally complex socioeconomic circumstances in which it is rooted as a practice. Hence,
the scholars highlighted the following challenges that needed to be addressed meaningfully to reorient the
discipline. Five major challenges seemed to have governed the discussion in the pre-conference workshops.
These are (a) the challenge of remaining relevant, (b) of understanding public administration with the election
of the first African—American nominee to the US presidency, (c) of teaching public administration in Asia
given the clear Western bias of the discipline, (d) of creating a global discourse in public administration, and
(e) of retaining an independent identity for the discipline since public administration has, reportedly been’
roofied (drugged] and rolled [mugged]’ by economics. (O’Leary).
Like their younger colleagues, the senior faculty members who participated in the Lake Placid deliberations
identified the following key themes that needed a- threadbare: discussion to reinvent the discipline, given their
dissatisfaction with the market-oriented approach to public administration and also Weberian command
bureaucracy. As evident in the text that emerged out of the 2008 Minnowbrook Conference, five key themes
drew the attention of the participants (O’Leary et al.). These are:
• How is the field of public administration different in 2008 from 1968 and 1988? What is public’
administration in 2008?
• Can there be definitive theoretical and empirical conclusions about the market-oriented NPM that now has
a thirty-year history?
• Given the Influx of scholars from many disciplines into public administration, is it closer or farther away
from developing a core theoretical base?
• How are new ideas about networked governance and collaborative public management changing the way
we look at public administration, .public management, and public service? Are they changing the practice
of public administration? Should they change what we teach in our programmes?
• How has globalization affected our underitanding of the key challenges that face the study and practice
of Public Administration, Public Management, and Public Service in
• The United States, the developed world, and developing and transitional countries?
The key themes are clearly indicative of a road map for public administration, both as a discipline and as a
practice, Instead of pondering over the grand theory, the participants focused more on what works and what
does not, while dwelling on the changing nature of public administration. Theoretically, it is fair to suggest that
the Minnowbrook Conference III represented both Simonesque and Waldonian perspectives: those upholding
the former perspective were largely drawn to economics, organization theory, and management and those
clinging to Waldonian methodological tools seemed to have appreciated frameworks and models from political
science, sociology, philosophy, and history. The prevalence of two important (and also complementary)
perspectives also confirms that as a field of study, public administration continues to be relatively diverse and
‘multi-theoretical. The advantage is obvious: as a practical science, public administration is context-driven and
the participants of the last Minnowbrook Conference by being appreciative of the philosophical concerns of
Herbert Simon and Dwight Waldo strengthened the multi-disciplinary texture of the’ discipline, which is not
merely a theoretical discourse but also a problem-solving device. Praxis in character, public administration is
another meaningful effort at comprehending human activities embedded in myriad socioeconomic forces
which are both contextual and also historically articulated. By highlighting ‘the organic nature’ of the discipline,
the Minnowbrook Conference III sought to rearticulate its ‘human face’ that was significantly undermined in
the Minnowbrook Conference II of 1988, with the uncritical acceptance of the neoliberal and market-driven
structural adjustment programme to address economic underdevelopment (except the intense debate that took
place between Kurt Zorn [an economist] and Gary Walmsley [a public administration scholar) where the latter
lambasted the market-driven perspective). In the debates and discussions, the participants highlighted the
importance of being truly ‘multi-disciplinary’ in order to understand the complexities in public administration
that would remain unaddressed within the Simon—Waldo perspective. In fact, this was ‘an enabling’ exercise
that had set in motion a powerful critique of ‘catholicism’ in the discipline.
The 2008 Minnowbrook Conference is undoubtedly a break with the past for two specific reasons: ‘first, by
reiterating some of the major concerns of the Minnowbrook Conference I, the-participants seemed to have put
in place an agenda which was based on collaboration, interaction, and meaningful engagement with the
stakeholders. There always existed a perceptible gap between public problems, and government capacity and
also capability, What was thus required was the goal-driven participatory governance which-is surely, an innovative
theoretical conceptualization in the age of the shrinkage of government. In this sense, the Minnowbrook
Conference III reiterates the concern of the first conference which sought to -redesign public administration
by insisting on its ‘commitment to responsiveness social. equality and participation (Frederickson, 1980). The
peculiar nature of contemporary public administration’ created circumstances in which agencies other than the
government became important in solving public problems. The ‘public’ in public administration is thus redefined
because public administration is no longer understood as mere government-driven activities: Second, by reaching
out to learn non-Western experiences of dealing with public problems, the 2008- Conference is a counter to
ethnocentric public administration. One should adopt a global approach to public governance in Order to
understand the intricate functioning of the institutions that remain critical in public administration. Given
technological advancement, it is easier for scholars to interact and collaborate among themselves; it also
creates opportunities for broader engagement and learning among a diverse set of communities. In the context
of globalization, public administration, despite its contextual character, is thus well-equipped to meaningfully
address human concerns of varied nature. The discipline has thus become both a scholarly enterprise and also
a well-designed and goal-oriented device to offer meaningful solutions to human problems.
 Chapter - 3
POSTMODERNISM AND PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
Public administration, since its formative years, has always been receptive to new ideas and explanations in
order to delve deep into the structures and processes of institutional governing systems. In the process, it has
drawn eclectically on many disciplines and modes of thinking. Postmodernism emerged as a massive thought-
shaking, overarching vision that influenced almost all branches of human knowledge. Public administration
reacted to the new ‘paradigm’ rather late and, that too, rather half-heartedly. There is not much literature dealing
comprehensively on postmodernist public administration as such. At the same time, this line of thinking has
drawn the attention of many public administration scholars, particularly in the USA. Most postmodern scholarship
within public administration can be traced to Denmark, Netherlands and USA. Interestingly, the organization
theorists have been more receptive to the broad formulations of postmodernism; by contrast, the public
administration scholars have been much less receptive to the new trend.
Modernity
Postmodernism is not easy to define. One has to understand the meaning of ‘modernity’ before trying to grasp
the meaning of ‘postmodernism’. Modernity with its roots in European Enlightenment had produced a post-
medieval civilizational culture based on science, secular humanism (not God but Man is the author of his
destiny), and progressivism (the world is changing toward better future led by science and reason). Modernism
pervaded every department of human endeavour- be it scientific pursuit, cultural studies, or social analysis. For
more than a century and a half, the social analysis have been preoccupied with modernity and the characteristic
features of modern society. There were famous original master analysis such as Marx, Durkheim and Max
Weber. As it came to be defined, modernity stood for rationalization, specialization and bureaucratization,
centralization and industrialization. Science and rationalization were privileged over any other human knowledge
forms, closing as it were the myriad options of knowledge creations in history. The organizational hallmarks
of modernity were posed as the industrial corporation and the bureaucratic welfare state. Economic and social
developments were construed to have been the products of ‘rational’ use of resources and application of
advanced ‘scientific’ knowledge.
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is much like a pointer without precise content – at best an exciting new way of looking at the
‘objective’ world. There is clear indication in postmodernist thinking that the previous cultures and the
philosophical advances are at an end, and something else is emerging to take its place. Postmodernist ethos
resists unified, all encompassing, and universally valid explanations – the grand narratives. Thus incredulity to
meta-narratives (like, for instance, class conflict as the motor of progress, or bureaucracy as the most rational
organization etc.) is at the core of postmodernist thinking. Postmodernism respects difference and celebrates
the local and the particular at the expense of the illusory universal. Modernity is associated with the uses of
science and technology that are credited with bringing in an ear of unprecedented industrial productivity, faster
transport and communication, spread of representative democracy and complex web of bureaucratic governments.
Postmodernists are not much enarmoured about all these; rather they point out the darker sides such enamoured
about all these; rather they point out the darker sides such as instead of liberation of mankind, the growth
processes, in their view, have brought in oppression, repression and depletion (like vanishing rain forests, and
fast depletion of biodiversity). As Scott (1998) commented, a strong state with a well-organized bureaucracy
imposes upon society the rigid scientific categories and bureaucracy-designed simplifications that characterize
the modernization discourse.
Cognitive Relativism
The postmodernists argue, seek out ‘truth’ on the basis of facts’. But, in their view, science is just one of the
many ways to find out meaning in this world – one among many other equally deserving ‘discourse’. Facts are
not neutral; they are social constructions made and maintained by discourse. The postmodernists talk of many
discourses that go to constitute multiple realities. Hence postmodernism favours celebration of multiplicity of
cultures, discourses, and knowledges. Methodologically, thus, postmodernists promote ‘cognitive relativism’
that deprivileges science.
Much of the theoretical inspirations of postmodernism are drawn from the terse, and sometime, abstruse
writings of great contemporary European philosophers like Foucault, Derrida and Laclau. Foucault’s concepts
of ‘power’ and ‘governmentality’ have been influential in breaking away from the modernist notion of power
as an institutional fix; instead it is something that permeates all spheres of life. Following Foucault, the
postmodernists would look at power as ‘strategic possibilities of variances’ putting actors in relationships,
developing through ‘discourse’ in terms of speech. The concept of ‘governmentality’, an innovative thought
which Foucault formulated after considerable historical studies, has now been partly preempted by the modern-
day ‘governance’ theorists, very inadequately through. Turning to Derrida, his ideas on languages are extremely
helpful in understanding ‘signifiers in ambiguous structures, always in play, vibrating and under change’. It is
therefore futile to search for ‘general truth’. One can at best aim at interpretation concerning ‘how knowledge
is constituted, oriented towards ambiguity and the unsettled’.
The other famous philosopher is Laclau who, following this line of reasoning, treats language as a structure,
a form and not a substance: ‘the meaning of a word is not to be found in the physical referent but its meaning
in our heads’. Relational and meaningful ‘totalities’ should therefore be analyzed as ‘discourses’; the totality is
a combination of linguistic and extra-linguistic components.
The postmodernists have been staunch critics of the modern, rationalistic model of the actor and the public
organization. For instance, the much-vaunted bureaucratic efficiency has been sought to be ‘deconstructed’. The
argument has been that it is a social construct, as efficiency is culture specific – modernist, Weberial, and linked
to enhancement of production. Efficiency is privileged in a society that lays emphasis on ‘control’ – a
phenomenon liked by the modernists but not by the postmodernists. This kind of ‘deconstruction’ helps to
understand what lies under seemingly well-established categories like bureaucratic efficiency.
Methodologically, postmodernists have been characterized as ‘social constructivists’. As against ‘fundamentalism’,
social constructivism’s stance on ‘objective knowledge‘ has been that, unlike the Durkheimian and modernist
line of argument (facts are measurable and quantifiable and as something being there unrealated to the observer),
the world around us is understandable as an ongoing discussion of our subjective perceptions of social conditions.
The other important methodological point to note is that the postmodernists give preference to hermeneutic
analysis, contextuality and inductive reasoning as against modernist positivism, empiricism and deductive logic.
Modernists’ attempts at generalization, synthesis and prediction are replaced by exceptions, difference and
indeterminacy. As Farmer has explained this point, many postmodernists focus on the conditions of the
marginalized, the oppressed and the peripheral; by contrast the modernists to a large degree seek the governors,
the powerful and the liberated.
In this context, Fox and Miller deserve special mention for their fairly comprehensive presentation of the
postmodernist version of public administration. Briefly, in their Postmodern Public Administration the focus
has significantly shifted from the logic of the bureaucratic system to broader democratic consequences of the
system for the citizenry. Following Habermassian discourse theory, a model of authentic discourse has been
presented in the interests of active citizenry functioning as worthy participant-agents in public affairs. At the
core of Fox and Miller analysis is a deep dissatisfaction with the ‘loop model’ of democracy: essentially an
input-output-feedback understanding of democratic decision-making with dividing lines between politics and
administration, and the idea of the neutral public employee having the voter as a client to serve. The plea is
for authentic and sincere discourse – for the development of inter-associational form of democracy through
‘extrabureaucratic policy networks and other formations’. To quote Fox and Miller, “When community is
reduced to a series of otherwise atomized individuals brought together usually by the coincidence of their
consumptive activity, the community does not develop political skills… meeting-goers are not participants”.
Participation in authentic discourse requires ‘warrants for discourse’. Trust and intentionality –basic orientation
towards problem-solving –are the prerequisites of involvement for which, on the part of administration, there
has to be attentiveness and ability to listen that makes for ‘creative engagement’.
Postmodernist Public Administration
As discussed above, the postmodernist trend is rather recent in public administration study and research. It will
require a full-length book to present a comprehensive account of Public Administration’s recent turn to
Postmodernism. There is, however, no unifying, integrated postmodern approach to Public Administration. The
use of the term ‘postmodern approach to Public Administration. The use of the term’ postmodern’ in conjunction
with public administration can be traced to Hummel (1989) and Dennard (1989). Hummel looke at postmodern
organization, wheras Dennard wrote about radical humanism in a satirical narrative form. Marshall and White
(1990), in their attempt to ‘deconstruct’ the Blacksburg Manifesto (constitutionalist interpretation to counter
the market trend), introduced postmodernism as a method of public administration analysis. Farmer (1997,
1999) has drawn attention to the limitations of the ‘grand narratives’ in public administration such as Taylorist
efficiency, specialization, and aspirations to science of public administration. His focus is on the voices
marginalized in public administration – women, minorities etc and he looks ahead towards radical listening to
the ‘Other’ that might bring about the liberation of the marginalized voices.
This is thumbnail sketch of the rich contributions that have been forthcoming in recent times from a group
of innovative front line researchers in public administration. From the standpoint of enrichment of the discipline
of public administration, postmodernism opens up newer possibilities of disciplinary growth. There is considerable
scope for carefully following the extremely challenging and innovative methodological and substantive thoughts
of postmodernism – especially those relating to the understanding of ‘truth’, working out alternatives to the
conventional bureaucratic paradigm, building up of authentic, participative, citizen-centric democracy, and
focusing on the marginalized and the exceptional in the context of contemporary societal fragmentation. The
postmodernist outlook has the potentiality of giving birth to an altogether new public administration that would
break away from the age old, conventional Weberanism and bring back the ‘public’ in public administration.
Its other contribution lies in the demystification of bureaucratic rationalism and in forcefully exposing the
latent designs of the corporate interests surreptitiously trying to co-opt public interests.
From the perspective of the Third World, postmodernism has been characterized as basically ‘Western’ and
‘ethnocentric’, since the evolutionary trajectory from ‘modernity’ to ‘postmodernity’ refers to the specific
historical developmental path of the Western developed nations. The other major criticism has been that
postmodernism’s rejection of ‘grand narratives’ is directed toward the rejection and undermining of Marxist
socio-historical theory keeping in view the historical evolutionary specificities of the post communist Western
world. At the same time, postmodernist’s emphasis on micro-movements and the problems of the marginalized,
the women and others has lent considerable intellectual support to the study of such social movement. Another
aspect of postmodernist discourse on authentic, communitarian and participative demoracy has direct relevance
to the world-wide movement today towards decentralization and civil society and people’s empowerment.
 Chapter - 5
OPEN AND COOPERATIVE SYSTEMS

The Study of Organisations has fascinated researchers over centuries. Various approaches have been adopted
to analyse organisations. The earlier studies of systems approach adopted the evolutionary perspective in
analysing the development of social systems. These were the stages societies or social systems undergo through
social differentiation. The differentiation process was also central to modernisation, in that a unit or sub-system
divides into separate systems or units, which differ in both structure and functional significance. The literature
on Organisations is drawn from a variety of sources and is multidisciplinary in nature, with contributions from
sociology, political science, public administration, economics and psychology, to name a few.
Undifferentiated social systems can best be illustrated by the kinship-centred household, which combines both
the units of residence and agricultural production. Our knowledge about the Systems approach would be
incomplete without an understanding about the basic assumptions/theoretical underpinnings underlying the
two main approaches central to the Systems analysis, the closed systems and the open system models. One
led to the other, in that the critique of the closed system approach opened the way for the conceptualisation
of the open systems model. Taken together, they constitute the whole.
The two major schools of thought could be broadly analysed under the closed Systems Approach and the open
systems approach. In this unit we will be discussing the models under closed and open system, cooperative
system, and syntheses of closed and open system.
THE CLOSED SYSTEM
The Closed Systems approach is based on the theory of formal organisation. The three major models under
the Closed Systems are: (a) scientific management (b) administrative management and (c) Weberian bureaucracy.
These schools were based on the rational model according to which a system could be closed, or if closure were
not complete, the external forces acting on it would at least be predictable
The Open-systems Approach
Features
Whereas the Closed Systems approach believed in the insulation of the organisation from outside pressures,
the Open Systems Approach conceives Organisations as part of a larger environment. It argues that work
cannot be strictly compartmentalised into watertight components. The Open system is based on the assumption
that human beings cannot be programmed to work like machines. They have to be motivated to contribute
their best towards attaining organisational goals.
The Human Relations school challenged the view of scientific management of scientific that factories are
essentially nothing more than production systems and that workers could be made to work as machines. The
Open-System Approach, which is also identified as the natural-system model. It grew out of a challenge to
the closed systems approach. As a natural system the complex organisation is viewed in the context of inter-
dependent parts, which together constitute a whole. Each part is expected to contribute something towards the
whole. The whole in turn is inter-dependent with the larger environment. Survival of the system is the ultimate
goal wherein the relationship between the parts is determined through an evolutionary process. Dysfunctions
are conceivable, but the assumption is that an offending part will adjust in order to produce net positive
contribution or alternatively disengage itself. If this does not happen the system will degenerate. Whereas the
Closed System sealed off the organisation from influences from the environmental variables. The Open-
System, which is also, a cooperative system asumes interaction between the different parts. The Open-System
focuses on variables, which are not included in the rational models such as sentiments, cliques, social controls
through informal norms, etc. The informal or Open-System organisation is considered as a spontaneous entity,
which is essential for complex organisations to function by permitting the system to interact with the environment,
make suitable adaptations in order to. We can trace the origin of the open-systems model to the Human
Relations movement.
 Chapter - 6
SYSTEMS APPROACH-VIEWS OF DAVID EASTON
AND CHESTER BARNARD
A modern organisation witnesses vast growth in size, complexity and scale of activity. Its growing complexity
and scale of operations demand that a successful administration must integrate them within a framework. In
an age of specialisation integration becomes more and more important in an organisation. Organisations are
transcending national boundaries. They are engaging in product diversification. To explain such a growing
phenomenon, systems approach of organisation become important. The modern organisational approach is
called systems approach. The structural functionalism of Talcott Parsons, the political system theory of David
Easton and the functional theory of Robert Merton, Gabriel Almond and others influence this approach. The
system approach marks a departure from the earlier approaches of organisation. In present unit, an attempt is
made to know the views of David Easton and Chester Barnard on analyses of political and administrative
systems respectively.
Systems Approach: Meaning
A system is an interconnected set of elements that function as a whole. The theory of systems was first
developed in physical sciences, but it has been extended to other disciplines such as political science, public
administration, management etc. A system is characterised by three properties. First, it is a set of interactions
taking place within itself. Second, these interrelated activities or elements have a boundary set around them.
Third property constitutes the environment of a system. The most important activity of a system is to
maintain administrative order and equilibrium among sub-system.
According to systems approach administration is described as a system comprising sub-system, structure,
people, action and interactions that enable it perform certain functions. An administrative system is divided
into three distinct processes ---inputs, through puts and outputs. The system's framework assumes interactions
between the three processes. Environment forces influence the administrative system.
Organisation - As a Open System
Systems approach of organisation theory places emphasis on studying organisation as a system in its
totality. Organisation as a system is made up of a number of sub-parts or sub-components while at the same
time it is also affected by an environmental supra-system, which comprises economic, social, political and
technological influences. Organisation is an open system and it continuously interacts with environment. In this
interaction, it takes inputs from the environment, processes these in the form of outputs, which are exported
to the environment. The simplest open system consist of an input, a transformation process and an output
which is depicted thus:
Input =>Transformation Process => Output.
A system cannot survive without continuous input, the transformation process, and output. There are three
types of inputs that an organisation takes from its environment - materials, energy and information. The inputs
are converted into outputs through men and machines. The organisation exports the outputs created through
the process of conversion. These outputs are given back to the environment for importing further inputs. Thus,
this goes like a cycle. Systems approach to organisations provides a useful framework for
understanding how the elements of an organisation interact among themselves and with their environment. If
administrators do not understand these interactions, they may tend to ignore their environment or to overlook
important interrelationships within their organisation. The systems perspectives help administrators conceptualise
the flow and interaction of various elements of the organisation as they enter the system, are transformed by
it and then re-enter the environment.
In today's dramatically changing environment an open systems approach is becoming much more relevant and
meaningful. Organisations do not exist in a vacuum. They are subject to forces from the outside world, such
as culture, technological change, education, politics, natural and human resources as well as economic
framework. All these constitute the external environment. Administrator's task is to ensure the integration of
these variables in meeting the organisational objectives. This means that the modern administrator has to be
a systems analyst.
A representative author of systems approach literature stream is David Easton. He adopted this approach to
public policy making. Chester Barnard regarded all organisation as systems, which are subordinate to longer
system, such as society. The following sections discuss the views of David Easton and Chester Barnard on
application of systems approach to analyse political and administrative systems.
Views of David Easton
Systems theory portrays public policy as an output of the political system. It is a useful aid in understanding
the policy-making process. Systems approach helps us to conceptualise the linkages between the environment,
the political system and public policy.
David Easton in his analysis of political system argued that the political system is that part of the society
engaged in the "authoritative allocation of values". The values held by the policy makers are fundamentally
assumed to be crucial in understanding the policy alternatives that are made. Both internal and external
environment have an influence on the policy making process is influenced by the values and ideologies held
by the decision makers in the system. The demands and supports that the political system receives from the
environment in the form of inputs go through a conversion process within the system and take the form of
outputs. A feedback mechanism is developed through which the effects and consequences of out puts are put
back into the system as inputs. To Easton a political system is a complex cyclical operation where a set of
processes, which converts inputs into, outputs as a routine matter. The systems approach to political analysis
can be shown in the following figure.
Environment : Social and Economic Variables in the Polity.

Easton states that the authorities formulate public policies in a political system.
Policy analysis enables us to describe and explain the causes and consequences of public policy. The policy
making process has been regarded as a "black box" which converts the demands of the society into policies.
Policy-making is closely related to decision-making. However, it is not the same as decision-making. Policy-
making does involve decision-making, but a decision does not necessarily constitute a policy. Decision
making often involve an identification of problem, a careful analysis of possible alternatives and a selection
of one alternative for action. The policy decisions eventually taken thus provide a sense of direction to the
courses of administrative action. Anderson says "Policy decisions are decisions made by public officials that
authorise or given direction and content to public policy actions". These may include decisions to issue
executive orders, promulgate administrative rules or make important judicial interpretation of laws. In simple,
policy analysis is a technique to measure organisational effectiveness, through the examination and evaluation
of the effect of a programme. The system model of public policy making and implementation is diagrammed
in the following figure:
Environment : Social and Economic Variables in the Polity

The filed of public policy has assumed considerable importance in response to the increasing complexity of
the society. Public policy is an important mechanism for moving a social system from the past to the future.
David Easton adopted systems approach to analyse public policy making and implementation in a dynamic
political system.
Views of Chester Barnard
Chester Barnard is considered to be the outstanding theorist in modern administrative thought. He introduced
social concepts into the analysis of managerial functions and processes. While Taylor and his associates
concentrated on improving the task efficiency of the individual, Barnard on the other hand, started with
individual, moved to cooperative effort, and ended with executive functions. His views on motivation, executive
leadership, authority, organisational decision, national planning demonstrate a profound understanding of the
complexity of organisation process. His contributions vastly enriched organisation theory. He highlighted the
broader issues of administration such as formal and informal organisational units, functional overlay,
organisational relation to the external environment, and equilibrium among organisational units.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Foundation 2020
– Ashutosh Pandey

PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 2

Evolution of Public
Administration
 TOPICS

This booklet consist of the following topics:

1. Changing Perspective of Public Administration....................................1-27

2. Nicholas Henry - Paradigms of Public Administration.......................28-41

3. Golembiewski’s 2×2 Matrix Implications for Modern Day Public

Administration....................................................................................................42-49

4. The Simon/Waldo Debate: A Review & Update.....................................50-62

 reD SCORE\
Chapter-1
Changing Perspective of
Public Administration

UIDO BERTUCCI AND Adrina Alberti\ respectively the Director and

G Adviser on Governance Systems and _Institutions of the United

_ Nations, have drawn our attention to the changing status ofpublic
administration 'in a world that is changing rapidly and constantly'. A.s they
observ~ "Over the pas(60 years, the rhetoric concerning the role of the
state in economic and social spheres has substantially changed: from an
'orncip~tent' state which characterised many countries in the aftermath of
the Second World 'Nar to the·conceprion of a 'miniinalisric' state in rhe
1980s to a new understanding at the end of the 1990s of the importa!1ce
of both the si:are and the market in performing invaluable functions in
society. Th~ debate on.the role oF the state has also strongly influenced the
discussions over what the state should do and how should it do it. As. is.
well known; this in tum has led to a shift from the concept of public
administration to. new public mana ement an~ to the broader concept of
g_overnance."
Public administration as a corpus ofknowl~dge has been growit~g and
undergQingmarkedchar:-.ges,as rightly mentioned bythe two UN experts.
Being essentially practic~,based, the changi.."lg disciplinary status ofpublic
administration has created both hopes and despairs. 1he optimists se..JtSe
in its growth potentials for the steady evolution of a robust d!s_cipline. The
pessimists, on the other hand, express dissatishicrion and anxiety about
its very status as a discipline. The truth lies, of course, in between these
two coniradicto!)' menral postQ.res. It is by now well publicised that sinc-e
its inception. the discipline has been responding to varying ad.'llhusttative
practic~ :and situations and aS a corollary constructing newer concepts'
and 'theories' as explanatory tools. Again, to r~fer to the optimistic
recommendation of Berrucci and luberti~ lhe revitalisation of public

1
 [!USCOREI
ADMlNfSTH.ATlV!i REFORMS AND CHJ\1-..lG \ NG

atin.:t>·L~~radon entails bringing rogethcr the best, atn·ibures of the .three

coa'"cp! ~-public administration, public management and good
jt) ·... rrtance-_to consrruc.r a. sha~p _instrurnent for effecti·..:e, · ;;:H1ciem;:

responsive. transparent and accountable funcrioni_n..g of the__s_t~ite:'

SEARCH FOR INNOVATIVE GOVERNANCE

Governments in,every country roday-bothin developed and dev~Ioping
.counrries-.a~e facing incr~1sing pressures from both ch;wging domesric
situations, and from rhe rapid changes raking place in the global
environment. On the one hand, governmems need to tackle .,_ number of
complex domestic social and economic issues, including poverty, diseases,
Wlcmployment, poor education systems and em>ironmenta.l deg~:adation.
On the other hand, they need ro readjust their policies and skills to
effectively integrate into the world economy. .l'vfanaglng the public sector
in today's turbulent environment has'become a demanq!ng challenge for
policy makers, service delivery managers and' civil servants. Even
acknowledging the central role of the governmept in society, ir is now
widely recognised that 'governance' is nor the sole prerogativ.c of
govern.ments. The civil society and the ,p rivate sector have also an
important role to play in this sp~ere. Citizens J:lO longer pe~ceive themselves
as passive 'consumers" of govemmem services,· but as pan of the solution
to deal more effecti_vely with emerging·issues. ·Deepening demo~racy' in
order to provide opportunipes not only for improved representation. but:
also more active participation a·nd ~n~gement in public affairs i'~q_uires
innovative i..nsclrutional mechanisms, processes and policies.
As .international experiences show, innovation in governance and
revitalisatj.on of public administration in today's circumstances is an
imperative· necessity ·for governments that wish to effectively deal with
emerging national, regional and intematio11al challenges~
Three main domesri4:; cha1i~ges, in-this context.are:
.

1. The need to operate and provide more far-reaching and higher

quallry- services with reduced resources and limited op~rational
capacities. That is to .say, governments ·need to use their· resolli-ces
and.build capacities not only ~eire effectivdy, but also mote creatively
by, for example.. enlisting the support of the private sc::ctor and. civil
society in service delivery.
2. The need to make public institutions more accountable, responsive
and effective by promoting a ·more cirizen~oriented public
administration.

2
 [$]SCORE!
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

3. The need to respond more adequately to me demands &om citizens

_for greater participation.

BENEFITS OF INNOVATIONS
Introducing innovations i.n governance is known to have produced a
number of positive results:

(a) First, it can help maximiSe the utilisation of resources and capacities ·
to create public value as well as encourage a more ope~/participatory
culture in government, therefore improving good governance in
general. .
(b) Second, by improving the image arid services of the pub4c sector It
can help governments regain people's trUst and restore le~timaey.
(c) Third, innovation ·in governance can boost the·pride of civil :servants
working in th~ public sector, as well as encourage a cultiire of
co·n~uc;>us improvement. Innovations ·can have an inspirational
capacity which builds a sense of the possible among public officials.
(d) Fourth, although innova~ons are limited gove~nce interveritio·n s or
micro~level initiatives, they can produce a domino effect in that a
successful innovation in one sector can open the doo~ to innovatio~
in other areas. Each innovation can create the opportuirity for a series
of~'Ovaqons leading to a favourable environment for positive chang~
Irul.ovati~ns can lead to building a riew block of an instimtiqn, and
change the relationship between ~evels of government ~-d within
go.v emment d_ epartm.ents. · ·

ENVIRONMENTAL.CHANGES
With rapid technological.changes, rising popular demands and expectations
about more r_esuJ£:s,oriented administration, and, of course. glohalisatioli
both the practice and rhe. discipline have been facing today a unique
chaiienge and a peeulia.r dilemma.It is.b~ing mcreasingly realis-ed that th~
conte~porary ·p~}?lic administrative prac~ces a,re too compl~ to .be ·
of
co¢1-onted a:g~q~tdy with t4e help the theories ~d conceptual too~s
of the discipline's past. Commen~~ on ·the changing character of p~blic
in
administration feeent years~ Guy Peters2has ob~rved: The c:omfortable.
world of the ..theh ·conve:Qtional public administration ·has been -~ter~d
dramatically in recent years. The ttansformation in public adminis~qqn
h:is co~e about in part through practite itself, witli ·poJitical,leaders, their.
loyal advisors, :md-dleir sometimes less loyal civil servants, devei~ing r:te\~ .
mechanisms for achieving public se~tor goals'. The contemporary

3
 [CISCOREI
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS AND CHANGING

administrative scenario, thus, looks like what may be termed one of

•reforms' gymnastics.

REFORM PROCESS
Jn_dll·s connection, the conceptualisation of 'public manag~I!!~JJt reform
process by Pollitt and BouckaertJ is--worth. our .qu.Qtation. They .make a
subtle distinction between 'a trajectory' and'a trend: The latter is simply a
pattem in ~e data, say, for instance, the city of Calcutta recoraing over
the years a steady fluctuation in IDC?nsoon rain.fail. This is simpl}' a 'trend'.
Whereas.a 'trajectory' is anintentional·p.attem-'a route ~at someone is
tryii?.g· to take: A trajectory leads from ~ starting point to some desired
place-or ·~tate of a..ff.rirs in the .f uture. The .scenaiio consists of three basic
elements:

• An initial stat~
• Atrajectory, and
~ A ·future .state.

·Jlollitt _and Bouckaert further explain th~t when ·there is just a vision
an
ofthe desired future without accompanying specification of 'rrajectory'-
"or how to reach the desired futrlJ'e, it is an example of 'utopian' thinking
a
Alternative!~ there.may w~l) be ~ritique of the· existing administrative
siwation as also a desire to move in a certain direction; but there may not
be a well-developed picinre of the final state th~t is aimed for. This
.situation is called by them a kind of dri.ftir:g with the tide}which is quite
common -in the practical world of public management reform. As they
conclude:
"'The real-world (of-administration or public-ma!lagement) is usually
more untidy,_with poorly specified vision~ of rhe future, i~adequate
analyses of th~ s-tatus quo and p~rtial and sometimes conflicting or
~scillating traje~tories for different asp~cts of the administrative
.
apparatus.
..
.

REFORMS TYPES
Ad.minj,sr:ra~ve refo_rms have been classified into different types on ~orne
basis-. ~_uch as nature, ~cope, method, strategies et;~ Paul Appleby4• the
veteran public adniinist.ration ·expert, categorised ~c~anges' in public
admfuiS~ation into two basic types~ constant and·episocfic. The first type
stan~~ f~r mcremental Change that is common. in,· most administrative
siruation:.s when pu~lic administration carries out adjustments to changing

4
 [$]SCORE!
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION~ NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

siruations ·in the normal course of aclministrative_operations. The secona

iype, called· 'reorganisation by Appleby is much more wide~ ranging in
scope involving major changes in goyemmenral structures and pr~cesses.
Administrative reform wl?lch has been apdy defined by Gerald Caiden5
as rl}e artificial inducement of administrative transformation against
resimricena5 nus ·episodic' character.
Another interesting and imaginative classification has been suggested
by Pollitt and Bouckae~ on the basis of 'strategies' to deal with 'th~
pressures on the s~te apparatus~ Four typ~ suggested by them ~re:
(i) Tighten up the traditional controlS-called Maint~in': involving
employment and expenditure restrictions (and general 'squeezing
of the system'} and campaigns agains~ waste and corruption;
(ii) Moderni~e .~he administrative system-ca_lled 'Modernise:
introducing 'faster~ more flexible ways of budgeting. managilig,
accounting and delivering services' with some corresponding
adjustments with die political system:
(iii) Nbrketise the system-called 'MarketisC. bringing in competitiveness
and 1 user~responsiveness, anq some of the v~ues1 culrures and
practices ofdie market sector; and
(iv). M~ru_ru4e the. administrative system-called 'Minimise: a kind of
'hollowing· out ofthe state machine' through 'privatisation and
·c ontracting out.

As the authors point out, different regimes have adopted one or ~ther
of these strategies at different !imes. In their view, ''1he '4 Iv~s· do not have
to be taken in a particular order, but neither can they all be convincingly
pursued .simultaneously: .

THREE PARADIGMS7
Still an9ther typology of public sector r.eforms has been sugge5ted on the
basis of ac~ 'reforms' clforts in different countries. These are
• Command·and control
• Quasi~markecs, and
• Devolutipn ~d ~pare_ncy.
The first parad~gm is often resorted to by governments eager to bring
about chang~ urieridy.'It :fuvolves .top~down . management approaches
and conveys at least an impression.ofgovernment taki~· chargi As in the
case of UK health care services reforms iri 200{) and 2005, given
government's ability to deliver, it can be_very effective. As regards. th~

5
 tm]SCOREI
ADMIN lSTRATIVE REFORMS AND CHANGING

second paradigm, there can be ~:-scale 'privatisation' which may not be

politically acceptable in.JllOSt situations; but a more practic2ble solution
would be 'ro use elements of pri\-ate sector through options such as
retaining public control of ~ommissioning_ services while having private
providers deliver them: However, _applying marker-like pressures to a
public service is ·not always a straightforward method as it presupposes
defining'customers' and their economic ability ro make choices among a
range of providers and pay for the services delivered. The third paradigm
of'devolurion and transparency' involvesdevohj.ng responsibility ro front-
line units ·delivering the service and then ensuring transparency. This
would mean .making public rhe'results in a way that allows comparison to
drive performance. Successful units may be rewarded and expanded, and
&iling units subjected to interventions. Ifneeded, on objective assessmenr
of performance, the failing unitS mar._even be closed down. This 'paradigm'
can work subject to genuine de\•olurion of operational C"ntrol along with
strict acconntability for results.
. These.are, of course of pure, types. Actual refom1s would naturally be
a mixed one-like quasi-markers mixed with devolucioni or, command
and control mixed with quasi~markets; or a mix ofall the thre~ The-recent
public secror reform, widely" known a~ 'new public managem~nc: as
discus~ed later is a case in point where countries opting for new public
management have gone in for.a mix of these paradigms.

THE COMPATIBILITY ISSUE

How compatible are the variot;-5 types of administrative reform~ with the
disrincriv~ country-specific administrative traditions. A wide variety of
specific'secror-wise" reforms can be grouped into a relatively few categories.
These are:

1. Privatisatio~ and Deregulation : removing functions from the

public sector (i.e., "rolling back the state"') or eliminating a set of
public regulations.
2. Personnel Management : recently this trend has been dominated
by"new pubJi~ management" principles.
3. Financial Management : refOtms dit·e cted toward minimising the
costs ofgovem111ent and,increasing its efficiency particularly through
the development and implementation of specific·techniques htended.
to improve public sector financial management..
4. Cust.o m.er Orientation : government organisations and their
employees should think about their relationships with rhe public as
if rhey were operating in a market providing services to customers

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 mscOREI
20 PUBLIC ADMfNISTRATIOI':l: NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

with alternative choiceS about where to receive-·those services. 'Ibis

, ~- dos~ly rui~~-ciated_ '~ich the"new pu~lic ~~~~wnt."
5.·Empowerme~t : a rea~tion against the tradition of public
managem~nt based on;;. hierarchical. Weberian model wherein lower
lever employees are expected to act only as ~nstructed by of their
- superiors~ Beside5 inculcating humanistic values, empowering the
lower edielons in public organisations permits governments ro
re~uce che number of middle manazers and thus to·reduce the total
govemmental costs.
6._Deconceil,tration and Decentralisation : Political decentralisation
involves transferring decision-making power from the, ~entral
governm~nr to lower levels o( government (specially local
g~verrunent}. ~y c~ntrast, adt¢nistrarive d~onceniration involves
transferring certain tasks of the central g_oveniment to lo~er levels
ofrhe-s_ame government without a corresponding transfer ofpolitical
decision~makmg_power.

These reform types are interpreted differently in di.ffere~t countries

whic4 is.indj~tive of the impact of distinct state traditions and political
cultures.·.Also, understanding these differences :-may hclp eX:plain why
partjcular -refo'r ms have been more successfUl i~ one--setting than in
another. Ad.miflistrative reforms are more likely to succeed in the.context
of a "fiiendly'' tradition than orqerwise. -

A PRAGMATIC. APPROACH.
It should be clear by now that administrative .reforms in the ~eruoe oflarge
scale changes in the ad~nistrative sttuhtires and processes have never
been ~ simple sleight-of-hand exercise..There can, ther~fore, be no single
reform~ paradigm; instead, what is needed is a proper and well-thought-
out Wlderst~d.in1r.of the balance among competing drivers_of change il!
any rational e"'ercise of interpreting both 'Contemporary- and future.
d4"~rions.and contents ofde;Sired administrative ch~gesB. c;>ne clarilication
should be·in ordet.: at dris stage. The old notion of 'administrative reform:
although:n~t wholly di~carded in this discussion, is su.!>stituted here by
the more commodious concept of 'p~lic m~agement reforin: The latter
expression has the benefit of blen-ding togethe~ the nor~arive ot:ientarion
of tradition.;ll public administration and the instru~entai orientation of
general.Panagemen~~
As Pollitt and Bouckaert10 define it, ··public manage~en~ reform
·consists of deliberate changes to the strucrures-and processes of public
sector organis~tions with t:J:le objective of getting thein (in som~ sense) to

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AD~NISTRATIVE REFORMS AND CHANGING

nin better~ In the practical pursuit ofadministrative or public management

reforms, two types of ~~es usually guide planning and action:·big
bang';.reforms arul-gradualisnL The big-bang approach is generally premised
on the assumption tbat partial reforms will have no effect in the absenc:;~
,.of.simulb.neous rapid reforms in complementary a~. By contrast, the
_gradUalist approach~ guided by the idea that there-is-only so much change
a so~iety can stand at any one time, and the attempt to do too much will
end up in a failure to accomplish anything. There is ,t ruth in both
p.erspecrives. Stretching them to their logical extremes, however, is likely
to·lead to rm.renable prescriptiof!S. The idea of big barig or shock therapy;
'to reform every thing a~ on:e go, is unrealistic. liidias experience of trying
to bring about· large-scale administrative reforms during 1966"'70 bears
out the truth of this Statement. Such a move might cai.lse extreme damage•
. eSpecially in a plural-"society" with bu.Ut:"in ·social-cultnral divisions. At the
other· extreme, the "funda':llentalist" interpretation of gradualism may
become a justification for perpetu~ tinkering_ around the edges without .
much real progress. Un~er- such ciicumstances, appraising the realities of
rhe administrative sitUation in a cou~try, a more pragmatic approach may
be·w orth pursuing. In a realistic way, hard headed analysis ·of the benefits,
costs, oppommities, and risks ofspecific administrative changes needs to
be made. After sensing and analysing the pros and cons of planned
change5. administrative reforms.slioi.J.ld be carried out as fast as possible.
Aga.tn under adverse circumstances, reforms agenda need ·co be pursued
as slow as necessary. espe~ywhen accountability issues need to be.sorted
out. absorptive capacities need to be developed! and public tolerance
toward abrupt 'change' needs t~ be .st.e adily cultivated. in any .cas~ a
coherent overall vision of ,the wider contours of 'reforril.s' is of crucial
importance.

TRADITION AND q\JLTURAL CONTEXT

Pragmatism entails that administrative trad~tion and cuirural con~ext of,
a specific country need to be seriously reckoned with in aiiy discussion on
administrati~e refo:rms.·This point was eloquently put forward by Fred
Riggs11 in his well,knov}n 'ecological' conceptualisarlou" of administration.
Sfu1ilar administrative ~-efortn projects may have different meanings and
different prospectS· for success when applied in countries with distinctive
administrative tradition~ Thus, the value~ and nndei-standings embedded
within state structures will be among the principal influences shaping how
the state and irs component parts function. .

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At least in two specific ways these values can play a major role in
adm~isrrative reform. Reforms compatibility with. the extant political
system is of fit"st significance. Personnel reforms,, for instance-like ..pay
for performance may be quite compatible with the \'alues of connrries like
the United States characterised by individualistic culture and personal
competition. While Germany, ·with irs gz:earer status orientation, may be
nnsuitable for such perso~el policy reform.
· A second and more subtle infiuence of values on reform is through the
interpretation of reform projects. For example,. the idea of creating largely
autonomous executive ·ag~des· in Great Britain; devised by the then
Thatcher Government, was a. means ofbreaking the power of cradition:il
~unistries and. their civil servants, andforcing the public sector to be more
efficient. Similar reform that was adopted in the Netherlands had little of
rhe anti-staqst ideology prevalent in Britain. These reforms in rhe
Netherlands had aimed at screng--.hening rhe policy formulation role of
_th~ ministries by removing so.mc of the dav-to-day implem·enration
.r~ponsibiliries.
'Tra<Udon stands for the dusters of institutions and cultural practices
that constitute a set ofexpectations about ~ehaviour. Four distinctive stare
traditions from among the developed d~mocracies of the \Vest are
~scus~~d here. D~pite a d~gree of simplification of complex r:e<J.lities _in
~ ~ercisc, su.$cient similarities ex:!st among them to employ these
traditions as useful analyt:lc categories. A note of caution in rhis regard
would be that state. traditions are nor immutable; rather · these are
chang~ble under international pre8$Ures as also through adoption of new
ideas.

FOUR STATE TRADITIONS

Bi:oadly, four maior state traditions in Wcitern Europe and North
America are as follows:.
(1) Anglo,Sa:xon:(minimal state)
(2) COntinental European: Geqnanic (org;uricis~)
(3) -Continental Eu~opeaii: French (Napoleonic)
(4) Scandinavian {mixture ofAnglo-Saxon and Germanic)
The most flln<4menr~ ~ereil.ce is berween the Anglo-S~on and the
Continental Europea., traditioi)S. In rhc former,- the stat.e as such docs not
exist as a legal f7ntity b~ut r.l;ther one speaks of government,. or 'government
departmentS': In the latter, by contrast, the S?te is an ove~rching entity

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ADMINISTRATTVE REFORJvfS AND CHANGING

capable of enrcring into legal contracts with other moral persons (such as
regions, communes, universities, etc.). ltis..true that a weak form of this -
-exists in the Anglo-Saxon tradition in rhe form of the "Crown.. (sutes in
the British tradition) or the "Consrirution" _(United States). But these
undersr:mdings a~ very difrerent from the continental European Stare.
One of the· most clearly identifiable state patterns is that of countries
in the Germanic traditio12, including much of continental Europe, md
perhaps Japan. In this tradition, the State is a transcendent entity. Any
particular regime or government of the day is but; one manifestarion of
that more perman~nt and less tangible entity. Thus1 despite the inevitable
division of government into departments and agencies, the aurl}ority of
the stare is not-considered divisible or bargainable.
' A citizen in this tradition is not an atomistic individual ~put rather a
membe~ ofan ~entially organic society. This social reality is perhaps best
demonstrated by .r~e prevalence of corporatist patterns of represenrarion
in these systems. Similady, in this tradition the servants of the Stare ~ ciyif
servants , are to some degree the personiF..cations of the power and
centrality of.the State. This relationship to state power is manifesrcd; in
pa.rt,. through ~be importance of legal training as a qualification for civil
servants. It is further ~a."lifesred in the constitutional status ~f the civil
service and the continuity of irs basic fOrms through several major regi_me
transformations. In short, because the state is so central to political life,
ses:vants of the.State must have 3 firm moral and legal foundation. -
ihe Anglq-Saxon tradition evident in the United Kingdom. the United
States. and Anglo-American denvativ~ systems is in many wa.ys rhe
antithesis of the Germanic tradition# Stillman's {1991) characterisation. of
the United States as a stateless society may be an exaQ:Q:erarion. But, it docs
express something importmt ahout the n~rure of the State in the Anglo-
American syste.ms. Whe~eas in the G~rmanic tradition state and society .
are conceptualised as a part of one ~rganic entity, within the Anglo-
Am,erican tradition the stare commonly is concepmalised as arising from
a contract among members of society. The boundaries between state and
sociery are ·thc-.;eforc more distinct, and perhaps more fle-xible and
amenable to negotiated settlement.
The role and posicion of the civil service also are more subordinate
wid-lin-the Anglo-Saxon tr.J.dition than in the Germanic. This_does noc
mean that the civil service is unimportant in government poliC'f ~ng.
But the dvil service in the Anglo-Saxon tradition is not assigned a
constitutional role, and rends to be subject to srrucrural changes produced
by the goverzu!1ent of the daf- The separation ofpolitics and administration

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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

is prominent in a good deal of thinking about governance in the Angl~~

American tradition. And issues of p~litidsation or po~ible bureaucratic
dominance ofpublic policy~have been most salientin the A~glo,American
democracies.
The French Napoleonic Siflte is conceived as unitary _and indivisible,
much like the Germanic State. 1his state form evolved as part ofa nation-:
building project focused on overcoming deep divisions in civil so~iety.The
same is· true of many srates in the 1hird World, which emerged from· a
long.colonial dominario_n. In the French case, nation,building was largely,
jf not completely successful; by contrast_, other countries, such a5 Spain
and_Beliium, have been f.rr less success~
The Napoleonic conceptualisatio~ of government naturally has been
associated with a highly centralised state strucrure. using instruments such
as prefects to ensure· the' uniformity of policy throughout the political
system. The most obvious difference between the Napoleonic and the
Ge~c traditions. is .that the later relies _more fully on the ·legal
framework of the sta~e to guide·action by policy makers. The Gennanic
rracljtion·therefore per~Jlits, or even encourages,.federal splutions, whereas
the -Napoleonic trailitioi.Ltelies more on the direct i~position of cent;ral
state authority over itS citizens.
Perhaps the least homogeneous in this regard has b~en the Scandinavian
. ~tate tradition: The ·Swedisli and Danish s}rstems appear similar to the
Germanic pattern. The Norwegian State, however, has evolved in some
ways to be moresimilar.to the Anglo..'American tradition, with aconrractual
basis for defining rhe relationship of the people and their government. The
characteristic that Best distinguishes this tradition is substantive,
specifi(,:ally a welfare state tradition. These states have exte~sive
com:mitirtents to the social and economic well,being of their populations.
This means, in turn, that even if the state h~ som~ existence that extends
beyond any simple contract wirh irs-population, it also· has extensi~e
responsibilities as well as extensive rights as it deals with those popul~tions.
These rights are political as well as social and economic, so that rhere.is a
strong participative ethic in the society and gov~mment.

POLiTICS OF REFORM

Despite its apparent technical-professional look, administrative reform

policy and its polities are closely interconnected. Essentially, the making
of reform policies in arty coti.ntty is politically#driven. The pursuit of
re(orm policies including-their implementation produces far#reaching

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political consequences to all involved interests- top administrators,

·political leaders, and even big business houses. Administrative !"eform
prograt;nmers reallocate the power balance among government agencies,
in particular, among politicians and bureaucrats and among bureaucrats
themselves. This applies equally well to contemporary 'fashions' of
adm.inistrative reform such as governance and new public management.
These are political instruments for reformers to satisfy their domain-
expansion ambitions, power aggrandizement and consolidation.
AdministratiVe reform, vtewed from the political perspective. is deeply
involved in the problematic which actors arelikely to acquire more power
and which actors would be likely losers.

WILSONIAN DICTUM
Historically speaking, since its inception,.public administration as an
academic fidd of inquiry has been interested in improving administrative
organisations, op~rations and practices to bring about good governance
Woodrow Wilson, the founding father of the discipline of public
administration characterised public .administration as an eminently
practical science The broad ·ambit of the study of administration was
suggested by him thusu:
It is the object of administrative study to discover, first, what government can
propedy and successfully do, and, secondly. how it can do rhese proper things with
the:.uonost possible efficiency and at the least possible cost either of money or of
energy. On both these points there is obviously much need oflight among us; and
only careful study can supply that light.
Since the Wilsonian exhortation, the academic discipline has grown
over the.years on the basis of hard evidences' culled. out of rhe practicing
world of governance. Due to a variety of reasons-social1 economic,
technological and so on- the discussions in our discipline have been
shifting from one paradigm to the other under compelling endogenous
and exogenous circumstances.

lWO CONTRABICTORY PULLS

While formulating administtarive reforms proposals, there has always
been a tension between two contradictory pulls and pressures: on one side
there is the classical distinction between political and administrath•e
control and their adjustment problem; on the other side there is rhe all
important issue (from the efficiency point of view) of institutional
~uronomy.

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PUBLIC AD~INISTRATION: NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

The changing scenario o( public administration has attracted thll'

attention · of aeademics and pta~dtioners alike. Some of the. emine~~«, ..
acadenfics have come out with incisi,•e observations on the state of thG
discipline and· prac.tice of public administration. It has been again an(~
again pointed (lUt that Publi,c: Administration, since rhe binh of th~
discipline, has remained a fidd of continuous innovation; evolution,anJ1
~einvention. Basically, its concern (identified so well by the founder of rht ~­
discipline-Woodrow Wt.lson} has been with discovering a better way ol!
'running' government as the executive arn1 of the state and 'pcrforminEl
wdl the public's business. Issues regarding public manage#ient h,av~-~
naturally centred on rhe question ofliow to perform the public's busine~i
in a way that sustains public servants' constitutional obligations, preserves;
or enhances citizen trust in government, .and de.livers public goods and
services. with a degree of well accepted equicy norm. The .cQntroversi~·
raging in.the dis~pline over theseissues, 4_aving implications for practice
and technique, have generated in course of evolution a great diversity o(
intellectual persp~rives. Because of the criticality ofpublic adminisrra.tio*:
_in naqon_a l ,Uft; the quest tQ. refonn the p.ublic sector has sourred th~·
devdopntent ofan.ill\pressive body of knowledge on public.adnui\JStratiol\
reforms; However, the debate continues as to what is the best theory for
reforming-the public sector. T raditionall)r, the rational bureaucracy theory
ofW~er had been the staple ~f public administration. There liave been
the well:known ~ontroverSi~ over a dichotomy between polincs ;md
administration ~nihhe public and J>rlvate sectors. In the sphere of public
policy and decision making. Herben Simon's'sarisficing theory'" has long
held the fort. At the.other end, the humanist approach of Dwight Waldo
has been' app~ing ·to ·mmy public administration analyses.

REFOR.!"'vfS IMPULSES
Situ;teP, iri · (li;erse socio,economic and politi~o-a4~i}lis.trative
environments and having i4iosyncratic historical backdrop;, ·.4iffercn~
natio~s naturally differ.as regards their percepti~ns about hrihgirig about.
specific ~n~ and·p·rocesses of administr.ltivc ~:inge and tefoimS. Small
incremental changes a.""ld reforms take place in the administrative sysr~ni::
almost continually e~ei-ywhere~ and no admini~trarive _sys~em ~s 3: ~~n :
one anywhere. Witb chis rider, _o ne can identify bro:ad reasoll$ 'for fairly'
l~rge scale changes and reforms in- the administrative sy..srem. Ba5ically,
. administrative refunn in any coun~ situation takes the form of d~rate ·
and fairly pl:inned changes in rhe 'strncrures' and 'processes' o~g~vemment
organisations in order to imp~ove govemmen::al performance. -

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The objectives of public management reform~ can be ·derived from the

Q_~nirion of such reforms as stated earlier. Such reforms would obviousLr
~6e ,conditioned by country-specific circuq\St:ances. Some of the more
iD;tporrani: common or general objectives are:
(i) to bring about 'changes' in the'·'structures' and 'processes' of
govemmertr-indudingpublicpersonnelmanage~entfunctions­
to make government operations more efficient' and 'effective';
(ii) to improve planning and d~livery of targeted 'services' like health,
eduq~.tion etc. with a view to bringing about 'human resource
development'i
(iii) copromote planned developme1•t o~infrasrrucrures' Ilke irrigation,
roads, electricity ~tc.;
(iv) to explore .avenues of cosr~cutting in order to reduce government
expenditu.rei
(v) m bring about increased revenue mobilisatbn.in order to enhance
governmental income;
(vi) ·-ro make the governing processes more 'open: ~trans.,.parent' and
accountable';
(vii} t•:> ~:ike g~vemment at discrete levels more accessible to citizens
a
.:-.nd generally to pnmlote more 'citizen~friendly' governance;
and
(viii) to introduce improved budgetary and financial systems and
procedures.
It is important to make sure that the ten~pojnt prescriptiop. is actually
u~ an~ pur into practice. So, alongside these, five key elements are.
suggested to.ensure implementation. The5e are as follows:

(i) creare clarity of aim that allows the organisation· to foc!.ls on the
key items that will achieve its ends;
(ii) connect consequences to the actions of .organisations, individ'!.ials
and~ collectives so that those actions have meaning and impact on
~~~ -
(ill) focus on the customer in order to recognise that the ·purpose of
public service ~s the-delivery of a public good ro human being_si
(iv) shift control 'from the top or c~nter ~order t~ empower ind.¥duals;
organisations and communities to address public probl~ms; and
(v) change the organisational culture of public agencies by 'd~angi~g
the habits, touching the -hearts, and winning the minds'_of public
employees.
Thus, the authors of 'reinventing government' have prP..sented a complete

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'
PUBL.IC ADMfNISTRATION: NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

blueprint of a new managerial revolution with precise guide1ines for.

a~rions and an Implementation plan.

'RESULTS' OF REFORMS
How do we define'resul;s' of pub~ic management reforms and assess them~
There· is no easy answeto ro this rather simplistic question, as the 'res~rs"·
ofpublic management reform ar~ not always amenable to precise prediction
and quantification. Also, such results, even if foreseeable~ take time to
acrually materialise in concrete forms. In this context, Pollitt and Bouckaert
have distinguished four levels of results which are worth our quotation.
To f~llow ~eir formuJation; afirst kind of results can be called 'operational
resul~' in simplest and most concrete terms which are discrete and
quantifiable. 'More outputs· are obtained for the same inputS. Without
additional expenditure. a programmemc succeeds in reaching a higher
percentage of its target population:
A s~cond _kind of results can be expe~d ·in the shape of improved
processes of management and decision making. 'Single window'
arrangements for industrial licensing. improved system of processing of
planning applications a_re illustrative of such 'process' improvement
(business process engineering) devices.
A third kind of results 'may .take the form of some broad ~hange in the
overall capaCity of the political or administrative sysreni. Obviously, this
kind· of 'results' is too broad to be amenable to precise quantification.
.A JourtiJ kind of results which is similarly (like the third) broad ranging
and more ideological relates to. ~c 'degree to which the system has shifted
cowards .
some desired or ideal stati .For instance,
. rhe question can be
raised _if the 'reforms' at:e leading co a reduction in the role of the state/ _
government or to a relatively more enhanced role of the market.
I twill be wrong to exclusively rdy on 'administrati~e/public management
ref~rrri' as the panacea f~r govemmenral performance improvement. As it
has been :Jghdy commented, public management reform is only one w~·-'
to achieve desired ~rids; _ :,.;td 'other routes to improved governmental _
perfo"nna~ce inc~ude politica1 refoQn5 such as chang~ in dectorai systems
or-legislative procediires.cirid subsrandve change$ ~n key policies such as
· macro~c.ono~jc ~~ageinent · p?li~ie·~~ labqur market reforms c::
fundaiDental changes itl, sodhl" p·olicy'13:

CONTEMPORARY SCENA~O:
DILE:tyiMA OF PUBLIC;ADMINISTRATION
. .
The UN document (1998) endded. ·Rethinking Public Administration: An
Overview' has admi~ably summed liP -the contemporary public

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ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS AND CHANGING

administration predicament. The major highlights of the report are. as

follows:
Role of the State: While the role of the S~te ~n national development
continues to be important, co.nsensu~ i~ ~hifting about the precise
·functions to be assigned to the State vis,a:vis other instirutions and non-
. . '
g~vemmental organisations, and the appropriate modalities for discharging
difierent national functions:

1. Democratisation trends: Democratic institutions are becoming more

widespread and democratisation movements are manifesting
themselves in !?any countries. The number of politically aware
individuals demanding-e mpowerment is also on the increase in most
countries.
2. The clJanging nature ofpublic policy management: Public management
is being affected by two seemingly contradictory forces. On the one
hand, many national issues have been redefined. by globalisarion
trends: environmental concerns; human rights; economic_, trade and
aid imperatives; and the need for international standards. The
increased speed o£ and access to, communications have also
catapulted na.tionai problems into international arenas. On the other
hand, there are demands for independence, greater autonomy and
decentralisation within multi,narion .and nation-State systems.
Unitary systems of plannii:Ig and administration are no longer
acceptable in many countries of the world.
3. The many voices of the policy process: Emerging concerns have
dramatically shifted social agendas. For example, environmental
concerns~ labour costs and international labour mobility have
become major preoccupations. Similarly.. human rights and the role
ofwomen and other disadvantaged group~ have become major issues.
Natural and human- made disasters create new problems and
demand urgent government attention and ·r esources.
·4. The imperative use of information teclmology. With the development
of . mi~rocomputer and data communica~ions technologies,
computerisarion a:1d information systems development have become
essential in improving tht:: effectiveness and "efficiency- of public
administration and an orgarric part of ~e economic and social
developmen:-process. Effecrive~ofmodern information technology
leads to oppori:u~ities for.spee4ingup development as well as to the
challenge to manage u~ese changes. At the same rime, management
of information systems p~·:wides both a more objective basis for

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PUBLIC ADMINiSTRATION: NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

dedsionJmaking and a demand for targeted training and resource

.... ·utilisation.
As th~ document sugg~srs,.'To ~ffcctively meet these challenges and
their c~nsequences, public administration needs to modify both its
traditional style and substance. In many cases, far reaching institutional
changes arc required and involve srrengthening inter~institutionai
cooperation to promote harmony among changing administrative, political,
market and n.o nJgovemmencal institucions. Administrarive processes also
need to be rc~ewed and/ or reengineered:
In this comexr, the United Nations (2004) document on 'Revitalizing
Public Administration' deserves special mention as it marks another bold;
attempt to gather together the diverse experiences internationally as also
to chart out broad guidelines for 'refor~s' in public administration
worldwide. The document concains both a briefoverview ofwhat has gon~
on so. far as 'public administrative reforiri' in different countries and a
concise gilideline for thc.furure directionality of 'reform'. As described in
the UN documenc: 14
': .. since the latter part of rhc 1970s. dtc meaning of public administration has
gradually become diluted, gi'ring way to the concept of public mat1agcmenr. Since
that time, initiatives for public secror reform geared towards introducing and
popularising management approadles and medtods of private secror enterprises
have been ·underraken in many cotmtrics, paving the way for a modified conccp~
of public administration known as 'public managemcnr: whid1 purs emphasis on
issues•of effectiveneSs, efficiency, economy, deregulation, dienr orientation and
rolling back the frontiers of the State'; .
.
The Experts Con~mittee openly expressed their anxiery regarding
steady erosion in,the core concerns of rhe stare and irs impact on society.
To quote the Committee report: ...After more than 20 years. of public sector
refurtrt~ the res~lts ofpublic management have been mixed. It is increasingly
suspected that th~}!t:J.phasis put on market forces and deregulation, as
vi~ ·as ·on effi'cienty and savings in the public sector, may have ·had a
negative impact on tHe traditional mandate ·o f th«: State, leading to.
irr~gularities, il}cludirig inadequate protection of the vulnerable in the,
.provision of·public services such as health and education, and causing
lapses in the management ofissues rdated to State security. In being overly
eager to adopt·rhe lllQnagement behaviour ofprivate entetprist;, the public
sector may have lost touch with its responsibility to· the general public
in
interest a number Qf respects. In this context, the c~ncept of governance
has -g.Uned increasing respect bee:~,.use of its focus on p·a:tticip-arion, 'p eople's

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·irtrerest, equiry, transparency a_~}~. _accouncability in ~he ~tanagemcnt of

ppblic affairs. However, public administration still nee~s- n~~v life _in order
co refocus its efforts in the management of public aff.1.irs on the critical
'~si~ms of the .State as well as on guaranteeing the general public
...:· ,
.xn.t~fest.
TI1is presentation (by Experts Committee) does not neg;;r~ either
public management or governance concepts, but rethinks public
administration, public' management all:d governance with a view to
constructing a renewed conceptual basis for the 'rcvitalisation' of publ!c
admmistr:ttion. Below are some of the concepts char emerged as
benchmarks in this quest for the revitalisation process:
• Redefining and reaffirming the fundamental missions of the Stare,
irtcluding its role in ensuring peace, security and stability and the rule
of "law and order, as well as creating a sustainable environment
conducive to individual and private sector initiative and economic
g;owth and human development; ·
• Devdoping and sustaining partnerships and collaboration among
the instirutions of the public sector, civil society and the private
sector;
• Promoting cooperation among institutions of the Srate and public
administration in different countries in order to facilitate the exchange
of successful experiences in renewing public administration:
• Selectively integrating principles and practices of public management
and governance in public administration so as to build and promote
public administration :'Y~tems that are efficient, economic and
effective as well as participative; responsive, equirable and ac::countable
to the public;
• Instilling, within the sphere of public administration. structures and
a culture of research, including the application of new information
and communication technologies -which -:.in pby a critical role in
giving new life to public administrac..)n. .
• Encouraging· the attraction, r~ruirment and rct~:-ttion of the bP_~t:
human resources in the r··\t!c s.:.:~or.
In summing up, the Expert Committee obsenred:
'A search for public 2.dminisuation revit;tlisacion ·should integrate the tlu~e
concepts of 'public administration: 'public management' and 'good governance: Ir
needs robe recognised that ar the core ofpublic administr:ltion are the monos of
serving the general public interest and the higher missions of the State. A
revitalised public administration will gi\•e vibr..ncy ro the interaction among rhc

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various actors in the public, priV:ue and civil society secrors to encourage effective
participation and collaborariori in the process of human development, encouraging
rrarisparency and accountability. ~cltout effective public administration, the
threads that bring together the effom of all mese acrors will weaken, common
efforts will become disorganised, and there will be undue emphasis on individual
survival to rhe derriment of the general interest. This is likely to breed corruption
;tnd widespread unethical ~ehaviour, lack ofinregrity in the management ofpublic
affairs, inadequate regulatory action, which may lead to increased criminal activity
md insecurity, a.s well as unplanned devdopment, which will leave the vulnerable,
including children and che disabled, without proper support, increasing poverty.
Public administration as an instrument of State ac~on and the guarantor of the
general interest should be rc\•italised ro champion the ongoing effons to achieve
the Millennium Development Goals:
These are important issues on which the Experts had laid considerable
cmphasi~ in t:.~eir bid tl1 rehabilitate public administration. ·

CHANGING PERSPECTIVES
As stared at the beginning, one recurring theme in recent public
adminis~tion literature h·..s 1Jeen that public administration today has
to conscio~s!y_ adapt itself to the changing societal/domestic as well as
global contex-tual needs and circumstances. In other words, the nature of
the world in which we live in and work today. and the range of problem~,
- constraints_, and opporru.niri~ confronting public admin~strarion have
been changing fast demanding new and more innovative ways ofgoverning.
The;nes ~t appear to ~e extremely important changes contemporaneously
indude 'the globalisation of public- administration, the increasing
complexity of ~1.tergouemmc&ltal and intersectoral relations, the growing _
importance of (cultural) diversity, the significance oflimits, environmental,
cc.onomic, or social, and the continuing importance of public law and legal
processes, whether fo~ or informal, to resolve tensions and provide
tools for meeting new challenges'ts.

AN ETHICAL RESPONSE
There has been an impassioned call, under the circumstar:ces, for a new
philosophy ofpuL.:cadministration-'a new 'lens' so to say-ro understand
".lld realise fimdau·.cntal solutions to ~ocicry's pressing problems of today.
As it has been implored16:
"To rhc maximutit extent possible. society would need to minimise judgemental
behaviour and maximise positive supportive altruistic behaviour••. This new
philosophy creates soci;;! goals ::o minimize divisiveness among groups, and to

19
 [CISCOREI
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS AND CHANGiNG

m;1Xirruse supportive behaviour of individuals and groups char supported the

-whole of society:
1here ~ thus a call for a mote ethicilly oriented public adminisrr.irion
00 guarc! against the perilous tendencies of social fragmentation_ and to
hold the society together. It has been further argued iu the same vein:
~Under this philosophy, govemmeilt is merely an instrument tha"r is
ufomarely of secondary impor-tance. Policy makers_ and public managers
would need to consider themselves in their as radically less significant ~an
is
cbiir roles as humans. Their primary purpose in life their own spiritual
development and their service to their fellow humankind.1his philosophy
does not stress-sea~ or_ power of admimstration, but rather the ~nt~
role of their total growth as· a person in se~vice to others."
More conventionally, how~ver, the r~ponses to changing demands and
pressures have been in terms of more profes~ionalised~ 'management-
oriented' govemmenral'reinvenriori Reinventing Government' and 'New
Public Management' are symbolic of this managerialisr approach to pilhlic
administrative changes. _ .
No doub~> however, confronted- with new._challenges, public
;idrninisrratio~ as a discipline rocky is hard pressed to liye up to the
eX:pectations of both rhe disciplin~~s growth and development and
adequately responding to the needs-and"requirements of the practitioners.
On their turn, the practitioners~ buffe~ed by unprecedented changes.
exp~ct appropriate responses from the discipline. As Donald Ketrl
pbserves:

-..Public administration, as a suhfidd within political science, thus finds itself in

~n interes~g position. It is struggling to define its role within the discipline even
as governments aroWld rhe world are iooking more ro public administration ro
resolve public performance :md citizen confidence problems. Indeed. one of the
t;nost striking features of modem governance is the wilversal attention t:har puzzles
.like devolution, privaiisation, deregulation, and the public interest receive. In many
ways, therefore, the dawn _of the 21st century ought-to be prime tiQ:te for public .
administration •...::
. .
Kertl -has not only posed the question but also has sought•to give an
~swer" to it. As he has rema;ked:
"It is tempting to seek to rebuild public administration on the greatness-of irs
past. Inde~d, one of the field's great is the eternal nature of its fundamentaL
questions. The key, however, lies in understanding thar the problems with which
roday's government administrators are wrestling ~re categorically different from
m:u~y of the problems earlier theories charted. The inte~;-connections among the

20
 tel SCORE\
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

public, privat~ and nonprofit sector a£e unprece~enred. So roo is the increasing
globalisation of public policy. Faced with these tougJ:t challenges, administtat:ors ·
ard:>lazing their t~il through a thick forest with few guides. Their paths-the
issues,with· which they are grappling and the solutions they are finding-offer
valUable dues for the JuUire of public administration research. Making ptililic
ad~sttation and the study of governance fonvard looking requires grqunding
it in the field's ageless questions; _u sing the new problems administrators face to
define new theoretical puzzles; and Ieaming.from the successes and failures of
administrators ro·chart thdidd's empirical research. That requires using practice
to inform t:heory-'-asking the questions th~ most need to be answered, and
ideruifying the answers that are most persuasive':

COM:tvffiNTS BY EMINENT SCHOLARS

This ~_tate of affairs within the discipline and the study of public
administration has been commented upon by many well known scholars
in the field like Guy Peters, Donald K~ttl. R~bert D~nhardt and others.
We will ref~r to Denhar4t's special contribution later which is widdy
_known as 'die public service' approach-a distinct characterisation of
public adminis~tion ih·terms of 'service' rather-than'management:

B. GUY PETERS
Ai:t~rding to,. Guy Peters~. 'the contemporary transform~tion -in public
admini~trari~If his come about in part through practi~e itsel£ with
political leaders,· their loyal advisors, and their sometimes less loyal civil
scr'Vants,·developing new mechaillsms for achieving public sector goals.
Most ·o f these· mechanisms for enhanced performance have been founded
on the ~asic premise that p1,1blic and private administrations· are
fundame1_1raiiy the saniC: 17
.According to .·Peters five fundamental assumptions defined ·the
1

funccio~g (;,f pubiic administration in the· traditional model. As he

explains.these assumptiorts.:
• "Qle first one relates to an assumption ofself-sufficiency. The traditional
_syscem assu~ed chat if.govemmen~ is·to do :mything it will organise
and equip itself accordingly; government is a.seJf,sufficient actor that
can ac_t;autonomously from the economy and sociery:
• The ·s~cond o~e r;e~tes to an ass.umption ofdirect controL Government
i~ iti.ternally structured' by authority and hierarchy, "so t_h at 'the
at
individuals the top of organisationalpyramids were assum~d-to be
of
capable exercising control within their own organisations.
• The third ass1:.~~.ption is·about accouniability upward under which

21
 tmlSCOREI
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS AND CHANGING

government accoomability was to flow upward, with career officials

answering to their political ''masters.. and those masters as ministers
~~~ring to legi~iatures. It was to be the principal form of connection
of administration with the political system, and with the surrounding
social system.
• .T he fourth assumption is that of ttr:ifor_mit:y. Governmen~, in terms
of a fundamental conception of fairness, was supposed to treat all
citizens equally and to provide the :;arne benefits and deprivations to
all similarly situated people.
• The last and fmal assumption r:elares to the civil service system. This
principle of the -:radirional system as :·standardised e.sr:ab!ishmen::
procedures.,-m~ing that personnd in the public sector were to be
govemed through a formalised civil service for recruitment, pay,
grading. and other aspects of internal management.
These assumptions described how governments performed rheir
constitutionally assigned rasks. In terms of ~is conventional conception
,~f publi~ administration~ pt~blk sector organisations are autonomous from
socie~, hut at the same time its linkages with sodery came through the
,open, democratic political.system. In this conception of governin~ the
internal management of P-U:hlic organisations was to be carried, out
.through 'rule-based' rather .tl;a~ 'market-based' criteria, and there was to
,b~ ~: great deal of internal consistency in the recruitment ~d reward of
:pli~l~c employees•
."These pri.nciples of public administration defined a stable and
. ~omfo~table way of gove~ng for mu~ of the public sector and it, by and
large, did provide for an honest, politically neutral and generally effective
. public service. It also ~ired a number of important political values,
such as the equal treaonent of all citizens.
The traditional conception of administration relied on a limited and
representative conception of democracy. It had a dear sense of public
~~nistration within a 'political context. 'served by an instirutionalised,
·..4~po,liticised, professionalisecl and neutral career personnel system. There
~~~ 'open a.dmission that all administrative activity was {should be}
~~!mated by political actors and by political values and the mam aover'
.:f?(govemment would be'politic& In this 'tradi_tional' concept ofgoverning,
'there was thus a 'paradoxical mixture of political dominance and de-
politids~timL

JDONALD KETTL
While reviewing rhe state of the discipline roday, Donald Ketti, a well-
known authority on the subject, has commented on the ·future of public
administration: ~is ~ments, ,broadly speaking, are as under.

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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

The dilemma faced by the discipline of public administration, since its

birdf"iii" rhe lat~ nineteenth ·century,- his ·been co develop ·disciplinary
knowledge scientifically or to assist and advise practitioners to solve their
intricate, real life administrative problems. As it has attempted ro build
disciplinary knowled~, it has risked distancing itself roo much fro~
practice. Anxious public officials have sought quick solutions wherever
they can find them, and those solutions have been easiest to grab in the
private sector. At the same tim~, public administration experts-
preoccupied with regaining their place in the discipline by producing
more~sdentific work or entrapped in: old hierarchical- and authority-based
models that fit new government problems poorly-have failed to engage
the cutting-edge issues. Disappointed :u: the discipline's perceived inability
to come out with instant answers, government refomtcrs have looked
instead to journalists, consultants, private management gurus, other
nations, and even to each other.
The key to redefining public administrations future .lies in shaping the
future by building oil its p:isr, and in recognising that the critical linkage
is a keen diagnostic sense of the new twists that fresh problems present.
Understanding administrative coordination today must include the
wholesale interconnectedness of the public and private sectors, and of
federal, stare, and local governments. Understanding administrative
effectiveness today must incorporate new approaches to making large and
complex bureaucratic organisations more responsive to--citizens and their
needs. Understanding administrative accountability today must build on
chartingthe_new relationships among elected officials and the adminiStrators·
who implernent the programmes they create.
Public ad.ministrationsc;holars have usuall}' been drawn to administrative
studies by the -excitement of real people rackling real pr-oblems. It has
weakened our ability to understanding rh~ qu_estions that most need
answering. That, in rum, has weakened public administtarion's rheoreric~
development. Theory without the ability to predict and understand
some~g real and important is not worth doing; dteory well-grounded
in questions central to government officials and scholars alike is inescapably
lively and exciting. The keystone to public administration's rich fUture lies·
in solid social· science, grounded in enduring puzzles that help provide
. answers to the future's problems.
In othe: words, Keq:l's recommendation is that puplic administration
has to have a good grounding on the I"ealiries of administrative practice.
But, that should be done on rhe basis of social .:>cientilic theory building.
"' As pointed out by Peters, there has in recent times been -the-allurement
ofa managerialist philo~ophy generally called the New PuSlic Management

23
 [CJSCORE\
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS AND CHANGING

ro resh~pe public administration more or less on the private sector

management modeL. abolishing the traditional notion of'public-private.
distinction.
A kindred concept of entrepreneuriai government' has been touted in
a.:, b~-d rp 'reinvent government' by Qsborne and ·Gaebler18• In their 1992
,,p,~tlc;trion eQ.ritled Reinventing Governmeut, Osborne and Gaebler have
ap.plied the business customer service model to government operations.
Citizens are viewed as customers, and the administrative role is streamlined
,Dyconverting policy altemativ~ into market choices. In their approach,
pn)~ence is given to results achievement and promotion of competition
Inside· and outside governmen~. In a cookbook fashion, Osborne and
Ga:ebler have laid down ten ne~ operating principles of entrepreneurial
government, m?scl.y adapted from the private sector, in order to revamp
rhe way government furicrions. These principles are:
1. Promotion of competition between diverse providers of goods and
services; .
2. Empowering citizens to push c6ntrol out of bureaucracy;
3: Measuring agency performan~e focusing particularly on outcomes,
not inputs;
4. Agencies to be driven by their missions and not by their rules and
regulations;
5. Redefining clients as c,:ustomcrs and offering them choices;
6. Prevention of problems rather than curing them after they blow
out;
7. Putting energy into earning monc}~ and nor simply spending
money;
8. Dcce~tral.i~ation of auth<;>rity, embracing participatory
management;
9. Preference for market mechanisms rather than bureaucratic
mechanismsj and
10. Focusing nor simply on providing public service but.on catalysing
all sectors-public, private, and voluntary.
'These are the authors' recipes for making government more effective, ·
.entrcprcneurial,..responsive. creative, and accoun~able.

FREDERICKSON·ON CONTEMPORARY
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
In this context, special mention needs to be made of the f.1motis Ga.us
Distinguished Lecrure delh·ered in 1999 by the legendary figure in our

24
 [ft:lSCORE]
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: NEW ISSUES AND PERSPECT£VES

discipline, H. George Frederickson under the title: '1he Repositioning of

American Public Administration: The emergent public administration, in
his vrew, has a new langu~ge ::md irs own unique voice. Although his
observations relate basie2lly to 1\merican' public administration, yet these
have m:1jor implications for the generic srudy of public adminlst:ratiott.' As
he commented: .. .' th~ ·contemporary practices of public administration
have jumped· ahead of theory. The theoretical perspective I will propose,
therefore, is based on contemporary practices that appear to be spccificuly
designed to solve,. ameliorate, or at )east to address issues associated with
the disarticulation of rhe state, high jurisdictional and· disciplinary
fragmentation, and diminished bureaucratic capacity:
Three importarit features of contemporary public administration to
which Frederickson had drawn our attention are:
(a) declining relationship between jurisdiction and eQ.blic
management,
(b) disarrieulation ofrhe state, and
.(c) need for-a broadly based redefinition of what it means to be
'publiC:
To elucidate these three features, the jurisdictional issue can be
understood by referring to the practical problems faced by contemporary
states, regions, cities and other .local unirs- to deal with a wide range of
sp~,over problems spanning the economy ('the new global economy: for
instance, has been characterised as the 'end of _geography') and the
environment, floating population, and satellite, based information flow.
The second allied feature-disarticulation of tbe state-.can best be
described in terms of sready erosion of the states capacity to de.-ll with
complex social and economic issues that {e.g. acid rain, immigration flow
etc.) oft:en cut across stare borders and hence elude the sovereign power
of the stare.
The third feature rda#ng tQ the 'pnblicness· of public administration
Can be traced to the proliferation of agencies and i~titurions that today
are engaged in doing the public's business. Traditionally, the term 'public'
has usually been associated with formal government.
As Fredericksond~pictsrhe picrureofcontemporary public management
scenano:
..Public management is now understood to include government bur also all of
those organisations and institutions that contract with government to do
governmental work, those institutions and organisations that are essentially
public,serving-the so ailed non·governmenral organisations :llld the wide r:mge

25
 tm]SCOREI
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS AND CHANGING

of organisations and insritucions as privately held utilities': This has led to the
blurring of the line between 'public' and 'privarC: rendering the public-privare
distinction somewhat fuzzy." ...... .

The theorieS and practices identified by FrederickSon, in this connecrion,

zoe (1) new institutionalism, {2) network theory, and (3) governance
theory.
There has been a noticeable contemporary trend toward a steady shift
from 'government' to 'governance' which is indicative of efforts ro widen
the number of members engage~ in rhe management of publi~'s
business.
I'nstittttionalism; In this context, Frederickson's ideas about
'insrirurionalism' deserve special att;enrion. Through his terse and dense
apressions, Frederickson has incisively broughr home the point thar'the
o1ost influential ideas of contemporary public administration are now a
part of -a broadly defined 'institutionalism: To borrow his exrendcd
arguments in rhis connection, 'instirutionalism sees organisations as
bounded social constructs of rules, roles, norms, and the expectations rhac
constrain individual and group choice and behaviour: It covers the core
' J, ' I -

ideas of contemporary public administration: results, performance,

outcOmC$, ~d purpos~fi.tlness. It combines the strocrural or organisational
elements ofinstitutions and their manage:-i.-tl and leadership characteristics.
Finally, in Frederickson's view19, institutionalism is not confined to formal
governmental organisations only. Jt 'includes the empirical and theoretical
considerations concerning the full range of so~called "rhird sector"
organisations and fUlly recognises ~e fu~ distinctions between public
a.n:d private institutions'.
Nerwork: Referring to the phenomenon of 'network governance',
Frederickson describes the character-istics-ofnetwork' in public management
rhus:
'Publi(: sector networks are understood tribe scruaures ofinterdependence. They
exhibit both formal and infomlal linkages that include e.Xchangc or reciprocal
relations, . common interests, and bonds ~f shared beliefs and professional
perspective&

In this conrexr he approvingly quotes O'Toole20 who had earlier_ drawn

attention to the emerging significance ofnetworks' in contemporary public
:tdminisrrarion: "In more concrete terms, networks include interagency
cooperative ventures, i.ntergovernmental pr<?grammes management
structures, complex: contracting arrays, and public-private partnerships.
Theyalso include service~ddivery systems reliant on clusters of providers

26
 [$]SCORE\

~'~t'ind.p.de pQblic agenti~. husin~ .firms, not-for~pronts; or even

voktteer-.sriilfed units ~ Hnked. by .interdependence·· and some shared
pr~e of interests:
As Frederi~on has .remarked, "It, is evident that n_etwork theory
accounts for an increasingpereentageoftheactivities ofpublic programmes~
operating--through 'networked:conss;dlatioiiS;
Governance: As regards, ·governance theorf, Frederickson looks at it in
terms oft4e ·expansion ofpublic administrations ~ol~y arena Reflecting·
on the cOntemporary administrative-situation; he points oui!1. that 'the.
de~tion.of public must now ~dude a broad variety ofinstitutiot1s and
organisationS~ nallirloJL11ly con_sid~ ou~ide the realm of gove~ent,
as"'wdl~ the-relatio~p$ thes_e organisations have with each other and
~th-po}fcy~ attdtorities. This:new definition dramatically increases
·thertuniberand~o.tnP.l~ ofthe explanatory.targets publicadn-tUristration
~~q; ~Ust: ~opn~ for.

27
 Chapter- 2
Nicholas Henry - Paradigms of
Public Administration

ublic administration has developed as an academic sweepfug the American politic.allandscape in the early
P field through a,.succession of six paradigms-that twentieth century was a factor in John D. Rockefell~r's
is, how the field has "seen itself'· in the past and decision in 1906 to found, and _fupd, th~ N:ew York
present. 1 How schola,rs ·understattd what they do is Bureau 9f Municipal Research. The Bureau·was proto- a
important because their understandingguides their type of what. we now .know as "thi~ t~s;· ··and,
selection of skills to transmif to, and shap~s the . !iltliough its focus was limited. to New York City, it was
perspectives of, those who are graduated from their extr~otdinatily ereative_m laying the iritellec~ai ground-
field and become a part ofit. · work 9f what public administration should be, producing
som~ of the early guides for a wide va,riety of public
administrative tasks. In 1.911, the Bureau established its
The Beginning Training School for Public Service, the nation's first
school of public administration, which produced the
In 1887, Woodrow Wilson largely set the tone for tfie nation's frrst trained corps-of public administrators.
early study of American public ·administration in an . Tammany Hall, the corrupt political machine that
essay titled "The Study of Administration." In it, ran· the City, felt directly threatened by the Bureau,
Wilson observed that "it is getting harder to run a referring to it as "The Bureau of Municipal Besmirch,"
constitution than to frame one," and .called for the and initiat~d a smear campaign _designed to emasculate
bringing of more intellectual resources to bear in the . it. The campaign backfired, and. en¢our?ged' reformers
management of the state.' Wilson was vague on issues in other cities to emulate the Bureau;s success. By
that later would fire blazing-academic debates, but he 1928, seventy-four cities had independently funded
unquestionably posited one unambiguous thesis that research bureaus, and they continued to multiply, both
has had a lasting iippact on _the field: ·Public. adminis- domestically and abroad, through tHe early 1940s.
tration is worth studying.
P.ublic Administration and the Universities:
Think Tanks for Public Service The Fortuitous Year of 1914

Aside from Wilson's formative essay, public administra- Universities had been initially re·s~stant in adopting
tion's intellecrual roots were planted in practical bound. public administration as a field of/study, but in 1914
The reformist "public service movement" th~t \}'as this attitude ~videnced a sharp tur~about. In that year,
28
 the American Political Science Association's (APSA) was reason to believe that an educated corps of profes-
Committee on Practical Trainipg for Public Service, sion~! governmental administrators would be seen by
which had been founded 9nly two years e.arlier, elected office holders as a disposable luxury. The
persuaded the mayor 9f New York to convene the dichotomy, which· held that public administrators
nation's first conference on public service that merely brought efficiency to the execution of political
involved universities. The conference recommended, cho_ices (and thus, in their bland, bloodle~s, apolitical,
with unusual fore_si_ght, t~at "professional schools," and clerical way, more than paid for themselves),
and possibly new degrees,__be established to educate provided a shield behind which public adminis-
public administrators.' In that same year, the trators could lower their political profile and justify
Committe~ reinvented itself as the freestanding their costs. ·
Society for the Promotion of Training for the Public This is not to say that the dichotomy amounted. to
Service, the forerunner of the field's principal profes- nothing mort than a cy.nical defense of a nascent' and
sional association, the American Society for Publ_ic threatened profession. It also was a deeply belieyed
' Administration. · rationale for a profession of public administration, one
Also ·in 1914, . the APSA's Committee on that still has some salience to this day; even though
Instruction in Government specified that one of politi- city managers, for instance, assume a highly actiVist
cal sciences four .core missions was to educate lead~rship r~le in their governments, many, i(not
"experts a·n_d to pr~pare sp~cjalis~ for governmental most, are still uncomfortable with this role because it
positions." An<;t . it was in 1914 that the "first seems to.violate the traditional separation of politic·s
·distinctly graduate, pr.ofes$.~<mal program in public fro.m administratiqn. ·
·administration" .was founded by a university:· The
University. of Michigan, which pl~ced the program in The Dilemma of the Dichotomy
its political scieRce department, a precedent that
quick!~ waxed over the next half century into a. do.mi- Because those who believed in the politics/ad~inis­
nant tradition. By the early twentieth century, public tration dichotomy'wouid not accept the reality that
administration stood as a prominent pill':lf of political public ·administrators often make policy (recall our_
science: discussion 1n Chapt~r 1): it plag~ed the field· for
decades. Whether Wilson, Goodnow, and other c:arly ·
thinkers are entirely' responsible for its discombobu-
Paradigm 1: The Politics/Adminis_tration lating effects, however, is debatable, and a solid case
Dichotomy, 1900-1926 can be made that they were less interested in cleaving
politics and administration asunder than in clarifying
In his groundbreaking book, Politics · and their mutual roles so that. elected officials and edu-
Administration, published in 1900, Frank i. ·Goodnow cated administrators could work more effectively as a
contended that there were "two distinct functions 'of team of civic leaders. · ·
government," which hejdentifiea with the ~tle of his Nevertheless, such nuances were overlooked as
tome. "Politics," wrote Goodnow, "has to do with public administration sought its identity during this
policies or expressions of the state will," while admin- p.eriod. Leonard D. White's Introduction to the
istration -"has. to do with the execution of these poli- Study of Public Administration of 1926, the first
cies.".l1 Goodnow's point-that elected politicians ~extbook devoted to the field, expressec! .the
and appointed public administrators do different Progressive values of public administration at the
things-eventually was labeled by academics as the time: Partisan politics should not intrude on admin-
politics/administration dichQ{!J'!lY· istration; the mission of publlc ·administration is
efficiency; and administration in general is capable
The Uses of the Dichotomy of becoming a · "value~free" · sCience in 1ts ·own
right. These perspectives provided an intellectual
As a practical matter, the politics/administration base for public administration's next paradigm,
dichotomy offered some prote~tion for a fledgling which rested on the idea that, just as there were
profession. · Public administration in general was still principles of science, there were principles of
new when the Depression struck in 1929, and there administration.
29
 Paradigm 2: Principles of Public college or university program w~ich alone will
emphasize preparation exclusively for the public ser-
Administration, 1927-1937 vice."· Only a "university-wide approach"·would suf-
fice.19 "A logical consequence of this reasoning could
In 1927, W. F. Willoughby's book Principles of Public have been the elimination of public administration as
Administration appeared as the second fully-flP-dged
a discrete field of study within the universities."20
text in the field. Although Willoughby's Principles
Such were the perils of not having a firm and station-
was as entireiy American Progressive in tone as
ary place on campus organization charts.
White's Introduction, its title alone indicated the new
thrust of public administration-that public adminis-
The Meaning of Principles
trators would be effective. if they learned and applie{l
· scientific principles of adniinistration.
By the very fact that the principles of administration
wete indeed principles-that is, by definition, t~ey
A -Reputational Zenith "worked" in any administrative setting, regardl~ss of
sector, culture, function, environment. mission, or
The status of public admfnistration soared during the institutional framework and without exception-it
principles-of-.administrati?n period. therefore followed that thev could be atJplied success-
fully anywhere '
Money and Power. ~ts rising stature can be attrib· In 1937, th~. community of public administration
u~ed, at least in part, to the Roc~efeller family, whose expressed this perspect,ive in.a singular volume that
interest in tlie field remained undiminished following its has come to be called the field's "~gh-noon of ortho~
success .with the.New York ·Bureau of Municipal doxy":·· Luther H. Gulick and Lyndall Urwick's
Research. Rockefeller philanthropies poured niillions of Papers. on the Science .of Administratio'f_l.. G~lick and
dollars into the profession, leaving "no important part of Urw.1ck were confidantes of. President Franklin
·the public administration community untouched." D. Roosevelt;_ their Papers _were a· report to the
. "A per~on could not have spoken abo':Jt the field of President's Committee on Adrilinistrative Sdence.
public administration in 1925 and-had COJlfidence that to
. Principl~s were important Gulick and Urwick,
the audience knew what was meant. In 1937, the situ- but where those principles were applied was not. As
ation was quite different. Professional associa- · they said in the Papers, ~'It is the gene~al thesis of th_is
tions for government employees ha'd grown with paper that there are principles which . .. should gov-
'unexampled rapidity' and governments were ern arrangements for human association of any kind.
calling on the public administration community to These principles can be studied as a technical ques-
provide advice on administrative problems more and tion, irrespective of the J9Urpose of the enterprise, the
more frequently." personnel comprising it, or any constitutional, politi-
cal, or social theory underlying its creation."
An Academic Backtrack. 'By the late 1920s,. there Gulick and Urwick promoted seven "principles" of
may have been thirty to forty public administration pro- administration, and, in so doing, gave students of pub-
grams in universities, an4 "many were so subo.rd.inated lic administration that snappy .anagram, POSDCORB,
to political science departments that their survival was which· stood for Planning, Organiz_ing, Staffing,
in doubt."l 7 This bleak cortdition soon changed. Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, and Budgeting.
Between 1927 and 1936, the number of universities that Gulick and Urwick (though perhaps I
more so in
offered pul]lic administration courses quadrupled. Gulick's case) clearly understood that their "princi-
So rapid was public adniinjstratip~'s rise that the ples" were not immutable facts o~ nature, but we~e
academic comm~nity. grew w4fued over traditional . .simply helpful touch points in · conveying an.
turfs. In 1935, a national conference.of professors pro- miderstanding of "What is the work pf the chief execu-
duced a report that was radically different from the tive?"23 Nevertheless, Gulick and ,Urwick also were
one issued in 1914. Rather than advos:ating separate aware that their still-fragile profession needed nourish-
schools and degrees for budding bureau~rats, the 1935 ment if it were to surVive, and realized that a "science
conference found itself ''unable to find any single for- of administration," based on scientific "principles,"·
mula which warrants 'the esta}Jlishment of an isolated was a publicly appealing image-indeed, "science"
30
 amounted to an "unassailable principle" in its own administrators) could pull the people from their pesti-
right. 24 Whatever the merits might . .have been of lent cistern of civic suffering, al)d into the light of
. promoting an unassailable public administr.ation, prosperity and progress. Consider what Wilson wrote
however; casting the field as· a pure science saddled it in this regard: ~'the many, the people . ·.. are selfish,
with an ultimately untenable paradigm. ignorant, timid, stubborn .. . they are not the children
of reason ... [Hence] bureaucracy can exist only
where [it is entirelyI . . . removed from the common
The Challenge, 1938-1950 political lives of the people."28
Wow. We forget, perhaps mercifully, just how
Dissent from mainstream public administration arrogant the field's first thinkers could be. But it was
accelerated in the 1940s in two mutually reinforcing an arrogance that, whatever its drawbacks, did
directions. One qbjection.. was that politics and imbue the public. administration pioneers with · a
administr'a:tion could never be . separated in any sense of mission, leadership, superiority, and elan
remotely sensible fashion. The other was that the that was largely lost when public administration
principles of administrati~n were something less t~an became a.s '_'common" as politics. Wi~h tiiJ;le,. the
the final expression of managerial-rationality. revisionist -ideology that politics and administration·
were inseparable"-indeed, indistinguishable-took
Deflating the .Dichotomy root and rigidified.

Over the years, a peculiar perve-rsion had warp~d what The Dichotomy R~surgent? Today, this inunoderate
likely was the original rrie~t:ting of the politics/admin- view has mellowed, and politics and administration
istration dichotomy. ·"Politics"· initially ·had meant incl'easingly are perceive.d as differing "constellations
qnly partisan (and often corrupt) politics. By the Qf logic."
1930s, however, "politics" had bee~. expanded in its Yes, politics and administration do co-exist on the
scholarly me3:ni11g.to include pnblic policy making, same continuum, but, at the far ends of _that contin-·
.and public adrpinistrators, in accorda!)ce with th~ uum, political acts (such as: appointing to government
dichQtomy, should not.enter this forbidden "political" jobs unqualified nep~ews) can be distinguished frorr
.. zone .. It·· was at this- point that. the pQlitics/ad~inisfra­
administrative acts (such as appointing .to govern-
·tion dichotomy "became intellectually untenable, me.nt jobs the mQst qualified applicants drawn from a
though:difficult to shed."· competitive pool), and easily·so. This is not- rocket
In .19.46, a book of readings written by fourteen science. True, it may be less easy to separate the
scholars, ·most of whom had extensive experience as political from the administrative in the middle
public ailriUnistrators, forcefully questioned the assump- reaches of that continuum, but we nonetheless under-
tion that politics and administration could be cleanly and stand that politics' values relate more to community,
clearly sundered. Were not what appeared to be pluralism, personality, loyalty, passion, and ideology,
neutral "administrative" decisions often heavily laden whereas public administration's values relate more to
-with policy preferences? Was the politics/administration- hierarchy, elitism, impersonality, professionalism,
dichotomy, at best, naive? Th.e short answer was "Yes." dispassion, and neutrality. ' .
Of even greater interest, and irony, new research
The Detnise of the Dic~otomy. The abandonment of suggests that the early "public adrriinistfationists"
the politics/administrat~(m dichotomy culminated in (i.e., the profes_sors, in contrast to the public admin-
1950 when a leading scholar wrote in public adminis- istrators ) seem to have got it at least partially
tration's leading journ~l that "A theory of public right, in that separating politics from administration
administration'- means in. ·our time
~ . a theory of politics often .achieves the desired results. The early reforms .
also." With.this declaratiori the dichotomy died. _ of government-the-council-manager plan, home-
As a cons-equence, the nature of the field was ru·n-·· · nile status, rion·partisan -elections, few governmental ·
damentally altered, and also, sadly, diminished. The jurisdictions, and short ballots-correlate positively
field's .founders had harbored no qualms about the with more efficient ~nd responsive government. 32
.wisdom of differentiating public administration from · The council-manager form M local government~
the hot polloi of politics because they firmly believed first adopted in 1912, "allows administrators and
that only a knowledgeable, noble elite (i.e., public elected officers to m_9re easily resist_opportunistic
31
 behavior [such as corrupt behavior]. Economic and In the year following the publication of Gulick and
political forces have significant effe~ts that are Unvick's defining opus, Chester I. Barnard's. The
· different for mayor-council communities than _for Functions of the Executive appeared.: which bad a
council-manager communiti~s:· City m~agers in major impact on.HerbertA. Simon when he was writ-
council-manager cities are more responsive to ing his devastating critique, Administrative Behavior,
citiZens when they make decisions than are mayors published:in 1947..AJthough Simon was not alone in
of cities without city managers,: and, when a city his'questioning of managerial principles. his volume
most exemplifies the values of council-manager had such intellectual force that it led to Simon's receiv-
government, its citizens "are more likely to rate the ing the Nobel Prize in 1978. Simon \Vrote'that "a fatal
quality ~f city services in the top ca~egory'' than are defect of the current principles of administration" i~
cit_izens who are ~overned by any other type of that for."almost every principle one C3JJ find an equally
urban government - plausible and acceptable,.contradictoryprinGiple," thus
Recall also that the early public administra- rendering:'the whole idea ofprinciples moot'-
tionists hoped that, even though elected -and For example, the traditional administrative litera-
appointed official.s do different thi~gs, they would ture argued that bureaucracies must have a narrow
more amply fulfill the public interest by working span of control-that is; a manager could manage
together. This also has come to.pass. -As a disti~­ only a limited number of subordinates if orders were
guished public administrator and scholar put it, ·~my to be communicated. and carried out effectively. An
interpretation. of the nature of interactiQn between orga~ization th_at followed the principle of narrow
elec~ed officials and administrators shifted [over the span of control .would have a "tall" hierarchy (see
years] from a partial endorsement Qf the .dichqtomy - Figure 2-1).
mode~ to a demonstration that both' sets of officials Span of control makes sense up to a point. Yet,
have extensive interactions, are interdependent. and the administrativ~. literature argued with equal vigor
have reciprocal influence."' for another pripciP,le: cJear· communication. The
Things change so that they may remain the same. fewer people who pissea a ·mes~_ up -or (town the
hierarchy, the less distorted the message would be,
Puncturing the Principles thereby· enhancing- organizational control Tiiis,
too, makes sense up to a point The hierarchy
A simultaneous, and even:more ~lementaJ, challenge required to bTin.g_ the bureaucracy in accord witl_l this
was the contention that there could be no such thing as principle, however, would be ~~fl~ as i]Justrated in
a ..principle.. of administration: This argument, of Figure 2-4.
coum:, included public administration, hut it went far Obviously to Simon and now to us, the two ''princi-
beyond the public sector to encompass a5 well !he ples" are mutually contradictory, and therefore by defini-
whole _of management theory, which ·was ·suffused. tion cannot be principles. This dilemma encompassed the
with lh~ ideology of administrative principles. whole of the management literoture, including public

Figure 2-1 The ''Principle" of Narrow Span of Control

32
 Figure 2-2 The "Principle" of Maximized Con_tmunications

. administration, but it was never more than suspected of Their fear was further attenuated because public
being so stark a case until Simon published his book. · administration was not their only subfield that was
. By mid-century, the two detmmg pillars of public . _restive; others, notably !nternational relations ("the
administration-the politics/administration dicho- . largest single specialty_ group in political science" at
tomy and the princtp!es of administration-had been the time), threatened secession, too. Should any sub~
abandoned by creative intellec~s in the field. This ·field depart, others might (allow, 9alling into ques~ion
abandonment left public administration beref~ pf a the very future of political science. _
distinct epistemological and intellectual identity. Political scientists were not about to ignore their
looming dismembennent. In 1952, an article appeared
Fearful Rea~_~i.(;ms in political science's preeminent journal""that put the
matter plainly, calling for the continued "dominion of
In the same ye_ar that Si~on obliterated administrative· ,political science over. public administration [its]
principles as the foundation of management theory, . strange and unnatural child."
and, with theni, those of public administration as well,
_he offered an alte(native to the old paradigms, propos-
ing that there be two Kinds of puotfc <idministrationists Paradigm 3: Public Administration as
working m harmony~ tl:iose s·cholars concerned with Political Science, 1950-191()
developmg ··a pure science of administration" based
on "a thorough grounding _fn soCial psytholo~," and As- a resuit of these imd related concern.s, public ·
those ~oncerneO With nprescribing for public policy," ad~inistrat~onists dove back with some fllacrity into·
· an enterprise that "can nor stop .when it has swallowed - the warm aod engulfing sea (or so they thought) of
up the whole of political science; it must attempt to political science departments. Some political scien-
absorb econorrucs and so~wTogy as weu.:· , tists, however, tried to drown their "strange and unnat-·
Despite a proposal that was rigorous and normative ural" progeny in it.
(and possibly .scary), Sim_on's call for a "pure science"
put off many scholars in public administration, who Consternation, Confusion, and Contempt
·had had quite enough of "scientific principles of
administration," or who wprried about their own igno- ·Paradigm 3 began as ·an exercise in reestablishing the
ranee of social psychology, or who just thought that linkages between public administration and p9litical
quantitative studies were boring. science. But there were issues.
Pqlitical science, which numbered among those. The public adrninistgltionists were no longer really
fields that Simon thought would be "swallowed up" sure what they should be doing. Teaching nuts and
by public administration, had its own reasons for bolts, such as budgeting and personnel? Examining
keeping public ·administration under its scrutiny. case studies? Analyzing human organizations and
Public administration stWreigned ·as··polit"ical sci- behavior? What? Public administration professors
enc~'s . !TIO~,t. pr~sti~i-ou~/~~~lalization at a time g~oped for_ answers to the point that "the study of pub-
when political science was held ·in"low scholarly· . · lie-administration in the United States" during this
esteem, and political scientists had reason to fear period was "characterized by the absence of any fully
that they inight lose public administration: The comprehensive intellectual framework."
founding in 1939 of the American Society for Public •For their part, political scientists were willing to
Administration was "above all an attempt to loosen absorb public administration into their larger and
Public Administration from the restraints of polit~cal loftier r~alm, but the price of admission was high:
science." · PIBblic administrati6:>n would shrivel to an "emphasis,"
33
an "area of interest," even. a ''synonym" .of ·political By the 1950s, courses in comparative administration
science. Observers commented thai "Public admin- were being taught, but the real impetus, however, came
istration stands in danger of .. . senescence," and ·m1962 WP.~!l t!Je Comparative A~~tration .G~oup
"that lusty young giant of a decade ago, may. now (CAG, founded in 1960) of the Ainerican Society for
'evaporate' as a field." Public Administration received sigriificant fmancing
And evaporation was nor improbable. Between from the Ford Foundation. The foundation's financing
1960 and 1970, a meager 4 percent of all the articles was instrumental in spawning a new subfield:
published in the five major political science jo~als development administration, which concentrates on
dealt with public administration, and a natiOnal public management in the developing world.
survey indicated a steep decline in political scientists'
interest in it. Dwing the 1960s, the APSA dropped An Intellectual Dilemmn. Mainstream public
public administration as _an official subfield, and, even ·administration in the United States is unapologeti-
as late as 1977, r:heAPSA's president dismissed public cally practitioner"oriented, anq comparative and
administration as an "intellectual wasteland." A development administration is much less so. Conse-
lead.iilg public adminlstrationist wrote during this quently, "comparative public administration, in
period that political scientists' opinions of his field method and in content, has not successfully inte-
often dripped with..!'undisguised contempt.or hosrili._ty. grated with the main field of public administration, to
We are now hardly welcome in the. house of our the detriment of both."
youth." The Ford Foundation eventually asked what "all
this theorizing and all this study .wlH amount to" in
improving the practice of public administration,
A Glimmer in.the Wasteland: Comparative and
and the answer was unfortunate for comparative
Development Administration administration's future: Forget about it. A survey of
. . CAG's membership revealed that "proposals to chan-
If there was a bright spot in tbe '·'intellectual waste- nel CAG efforts into the sphere of action received
land:~- of public administiation,' at least in the view of very short shrift among respondents.;, Not surpris-
most political scientists· during this period, it was ingly, the Ford Foundation terminated its support of
the subfield of comparative. and development the CAG in 1971.
administration, or cross-cultural administration,
which contrasts national and regional systems of An lnteUectuai Decli1w? The Ford Foundation's
public management. decision had a quick and hard impact In 1973,-CAG
was disbanded and, in the following year, the field's
An Intellectual Emergence. A distinguished major journal ceased publication. By the mid-1970s,
scholar gf public administration wrote in 193~ that a courses in comparative and development administra-
principle of administration ..is as useful a guide to tion were almost never taken by students; by the .
action in the public administration of Rus.Sia as of mid-1990s, only 14 percenLof graduate programs
Great Britain, of Irak as of the United States." As · even offered comparative administration;' and, over .
this sentence implies, a panidigm p_redicated on prin- three years in the nineties, fiv~ major public adminis-
ciples effectively preempts any consideration of cul- tration journals published just five articles devoted to
tmal yariables in public administrative settings, and it cross-cuJtural administration.
was only in the 1940s, as the field was divesting itself This is regrettable, ascomparntive and development
of administrative principles, that' scholarS began to administration can illuminate American public admin-
think seriously about cultural factors: istrntion. As one of its giants put it, ''Ultimately we can
(Forgive us, but we cannot help ours~Ives in noting overcome this [.American] ethnocentrism qnly by
that the supremely pragmatic Alexander Hamilton had learning to view our own American system of public
figured this out some 150 years earlier, writing that, administration in a comparative context''
for public administration to be effective, it "must be There is hope of a ren;qssance. Comparative and
fitted to a nation, as much as a coat to the individual; development administration appears to be more prac-
and, consequently, that what may be good to titioner- and policy-oriented than in the past, although
Philadelphia may be bad to Paris, and ridiculous to "the field as a whole'" still ''lacks features that give it
Petersburg." But never mind.) clear .identity/' and its "overall status ... remains
34
ambiguous."· · If, however, a renaissance is not real- holds that sector, culture, institution, mission, what-
ized, then it might become the field's sad fate JO serve ever, are of little consequence to efficient and effective
merely as an ex~mple of scholarly hubris: "Public. administration, and that "a body of knowledge"-
administration should take full notice of the fact that operations research, statistics, economics, accounting,
comparative administration's failure rests substan- and organization theory are often cited-"exists that is
tially on a self-imposed failure experience. It set an common to the fields of administration." Paradigms
unattainable goal ... in its early and persisting choice 2 (Principles of Administration) and 4 (Management)
to seek a comprehensive theory ... in terms of which are, in this sense of one-size-fits-all, peas in a pod.
to define itself."~ Paradigm 4 occurred roughly concurrently in time
with Paradigm 3, although it never received the
The Impact of Political Science: Bureaucracy broadly-based favor that political science once garnered
in the Service of Democracy ·from public.adrninis(!ationists. But in both _the Poiiticai
Science and- Management paradigms, the essential ·
Political science-the presumptive "mother discipline" thrust was one of public administration losing·its iden-
of public administration-clearly has had a profound: ·. tity within the confines of some "larger" concept
effect on the character· of the field. The fundamen-
tal precepts of American political science, such as the The "Groundswell" of Management
self-evident worth of democracy, a pluralistic polity,
political participation, and equality and due process Dnring the 1950s and 1960s, a spate of scholars writing
under law, <;ontinue to hold sway-among even the most in a variety of journals accelerated the drm;nbeat of
independently-minded public adrninistrationists. If, to generic management as the·logicf!Lsuccessor tQ more
indulge in spec~lation, public. administration ·had been "parochial" paradigms, sucn as public administration
born and bre9 in the n~tion 's business schools, would .and business administration. - By the early sixties, a
we have the same kind of academic field that we have nationat suryey of graduate progtams _in public adminis-
today? Perhaps not: So, despite the disdain with ·which tration:concluded that management was "a grcmnds.well
political science often treated pt.iblic administta~ion, development that tends ·to pervade all others,''- and as
political science likely was a salutary forn1er of the field many as a qfth of}:nisiness adririnistration program's also
it! laying its noi-!native.foundations. taught· public administration or social sciences.
Beyond providing a base( of democratic values; Suddenly it seemed that a number of public administra-
however, political science seems to.have less utility tionists were rediscovering the line in Woodrow
in the education of public administrators. Asks a Wilson's seminal essay of 18.87: "the field of adrninis~
scholar, "What can politica_l science contribt1te to tration is a field of business. It is removed from the hurry
the improvement of practitioner skill? An overview and strife of politics."
of the majQr intellectual a[WrQaches within political
science suggests the answer is 'not much.'" -Or, to
"Fundamentally Alike in All Unimportant
put the matter plainly, political science educates for
(to quote--one particularly lucid synopsis) "intellec- Respects"
tualized understanding" of public administration,
whereas the field itself educates for "knowledgeable Is public administration a subfield of management?
action,", and these epistemologies-acade~ic Does public administration, at root, amount to little
versus professional-have fundamental difference~. more than an understanding of civil service regula-
tions, while the core administrative functions remain
essentially the same, whether they are practiced in
Paradigm 4:-Public Administration businesses, nonprofits, or governments?
as Management, 1950-4!910
- The Erratic Impact of the Intellectuals. To some
Partly because of their second-class citizenship in a degree, of course, the determination of whether public
number of political science departments, a few public administration and management are one and the same
administrationists began searching "for an a1ternative. or separate and distinct depends upon the perspeCtive
They found it in management, sometimes called of the viewer, and theorists seem to bisect fairly
administrative science or generic m_anagement, which consistently on this subject according to their interests

35
and approaches. Business scholars tilt to~ard the for- methodologies of management that worked where
mer view, and social scientists toward the latter. traditional, private;sector methods did not, and w~
Of grearer inip<>rtance is· the systematic pattern of review some of Jhese techniques in .Part III. But an .
cmricular chaos that accompanies the management unambiguousl~lear impact of the management para-
model. The~ is a '~bstantial amount of disagreement digm was tha{ it pushed pubiic administration schol-
about the commonality of administrative tools and tech- ars into' rethinking what the "public" in public
niques" among generic management schools, !lid no administration really meanL
fewer than thirty different comses in these schools copi-
prise the ''basic requirements" for a master's degree. "Publicness'} and uPrivaJeness!' Defining the "pub-
If, indeed, management is management is management, lic>' in public.adrni.nistration has long been a knotty
then why is there no reasonably consistent curriculum problem for academics. In part, this is because western
among the nation's management schools? culture has never completely sorted out the "complex-
Between the biases of individual scholars and the structured concept" of "publicness.. and "privateness."86
national incoherence of generic management curricula, Publicness and priyateness in society are compriSed
it is reasonable to conclude that something is missing. of three ~ensions. One is agency. which refers to the
distinction between an agent acting on his or her own
W1uJt Is Missing? What is missing are function, behalf (i.e., privately), or as an agent whose actions
-institUtion, and sector. Both experiential and empirical affect others (publicly). Interest is concerned with who ·
data support the contention that public administr_ation benefits; it is the intereSt of a private finn to benefit only
is unique. Those s~,tccesstul business~ple who have the people in it or who own it, but it is the interest of a
become public executives are among the first to deny government to benefit €$Very member of the .community.
that there are significant similarities between the pub- Access addresses thei}egree of openness to the public
lic and private sectors·. public administrators who found in the orgamzation's activities, space, information,
enter the corporate world experience comparable dif- and resources; private organizations are less accessible,
ficulties of transition. - and public ones are more accessible.
As we shall see in"part n, a burgeoning trov~ of
research that empirically compares public, nonprofit, The Agency, • or Jnstilutional, DejiJ1ilion of
and private organizations casts grave doubt that man- uPublil:f' Traditionally, public administrationists have
agement can be fruitfully approached as a seamless thought that the "public" in public administration means
entity, except in the broadest strokes conceivable. government agencies, and this agency, or institutional,
Some seminally important research on federal definition of "public" still dominates thinking in tbe
bilreau chiefs found that tbe single most lm.portant key field. Seven outof ten books about pubiic organizations
to managerial effectiveness in government was not take an "agency'' perspective, as opposed to an "inter-
level of education or wide-ranging -experiences as est" or '~access" view.'
exec~tives in other sectors, but the depth of one's Despite its popularity, there are problems with an
experience as a public adminis(rator. Governmental agency-based approach.
careerists are, ~y far, the most capabie agency heads PrivatiZation, the rise of nongovernmental organi-
as determined by objective measures. Management, zations, and many other real-world developments
in other words, must be understood. in functional, conspire to make public administration an elusive
institutional. and sectoral terms to have meaning. enti.cy, at least when attempts are made to define it in
The emetging consensus of both practitioners and institutional terms.
scholars increasingly appears to be that public and pri-
vate managem~nt are, to cite Wallace Sayre's old saw, The Interes~ or Philosophic, Defmition of
"fundamentally alike in an unimportant respects."' "Public." During the 1970s, public administra-
tionists turned to a philosophic concept of "pubiic"
The Impact of Management: Understanding that focused not so much on government agencies,
the ''Public'' mPublic Administration but on whose·interest was affecred. Thus, rather than
concentrating on the Department of Defense. for
Management had some distinct and beneficial influ- instance, as their proper object of study, and leaving,
ences on public administration. Among them was its say; Boeing Corporation ro business scholars,36
public
oressure on public administrationists to develop new ad_ministrationists began to understand that the
 Pentagon's contractual and political relationships for the most part in the top academic institutions of the
with Boeing should ·now be their focus, since these country. .
relationships clearly involved the public interest. Science, technology, and public policy, and, by
The Access, or Organizational, Deji11ition of inference, public administration, differed starkly in its
"Public." The public-interest definition of public approac4 from political science. Science, technology,
administration has advantages over the institutional and public policy centered on elitism, in contrast to
one, but it is not terribly precise; one person '·s idea of political science's pluralism; on synthesis rather than
the public interest might not be shared by another. specialization; and on hierarchy instead of commu-
Hence, a third option presented itself: the organization nity. It occurred to public administrationists that the
and the public's access to it. paradigm of political science did not always work in
As we explain in Part II, co~pared w.ith private and illuminating what they wanted to study.
nonprofit organizations, public agencies are outra:-
geously accessible. Private citizens, legislators, spe- "The New Public Administration."· In 1968, when
cial interests, public boards, ·and many other groups . public administration was at its Jowes~ ebb, .a conference
have. vastly greater access to the nieetiqgs, offices, on "the new public administration" was convened, and
· information, and resources of public organizations its· proceedings revealed a growing disinclination to
than ·to those of private and nonprofit organizations, examine such traditional instrumentalities as efficiency,
and their organizational openness to all, their accessi- effectiveness, and budgeting, and a growing preference
bility to everyone, renders them public. for normative theory, such as ethics, urbanism, ~nd vio-
O~r definitio11s of public. administratiqn.-. Jence. Witb hindsight, the new pubiic administration
institutional, interest, and organizational-are.in no oean be viewed as acall for independence. from both
way ·mutually,exclusive. Rather, they are mutually · poiitical science (it was not, after all, ever called. "the
reinforcing. Of equal i~portance, these definitions · _new politics of bureaucracy") and management (since
clarify not only the "ppblic" in public.a9p1inis~at~on, manageme.nt always has been emphatically technical ·
but dem<;>nstra,te that "publicness," and .hence ·public rather than nonnative in approach).
administratiorr, is unique:
.
. A Brighfbut Brief lnterlutk. Both ·movements were
sho"rt-lived. Nevertheless, each had a lasting impact on
Thg Forces ofSeparatism, 1965wl970 public administration in that tbey nudg~ public ~dmin­
istr1ltionists into re-thinking their traditional ties with
Even at its nadir during the period of Paradigms 3 and 4, both political science and management, and contem-
public administration was soWing the seeds of its own plating the prospects of academic autonomy.
renaissance. This process---<}uite ·an unconscious one at
.the.t~ -toolc-at.least 1hree...distinctbut complementary Sep11ratism in th~ Corridors of Power: fride
fonns. Two were intellectual and one was professional. to the Practitioners!

Separatism in the Halls of Academe: While these intellectual currents were coursing through
Nuanced Notions the halls ~f academe, an entirely separate wave was roil-
ing in th~ corridors of power. For want of a better term,
Two developments occurred in umversities that had we shall call it "practitioner pride," and it, too, fostered
the unanticipated effect of encouraging public admin- the rise of an independent public administration.
istration scholars to reconsider .their linkages with The symbol of this rising pride was the founding
political sei--ne~ and mana.gement. in 1967 of the National Academy of Public Admin-
istration. Its founders wanted to create an association
"Science; Technology; amm!eiic Policy/' One was of tl}e nation's most distinguished public admin~stra­
the emergence of "science, technology, and public tors and .academics who could serve a,s a resource in
policy" curricula in universities. These programs, the solution of public problems- much like the
although 'broadly .interdiscipli.nary, often were domi- National Academy of Sciences serves as the nation's
nated by public administrationists located in politi~al single most authoritative advisor to government on
science departments, and, by the late 1960s, there scientific matters. Both academies are the only ones
were aboot fifty such currt<;ula and they were situated chartered by Congress.
37
 In sum, borh the academic and practitioner commu- both political science and management. and irs emer-
nities of public administration were. in the last years of gence as an autonomous field of study and practice.
the-sixties. moving toward an enhanced self-awareness, _ Paradigm 5 brings a_ bounty of benetils.h is, in
By l970, the separatist movement was underway~ many ways, a union-really, a reunion-of profes-
sors· and practitioners that has not been seen s(nce
lhe 1930s. The bonds linking professors and public
Paradigm 5: Public Administratiotl as administrators, as well as stuct~nls. may now be
Public Administration: 1970-Present strengthened in a nurturing atmosphere, free from
snide asides by political scientists about public
"Public administration as public administration'' administration's predilection for ''nu ts and bolts,''
refers to public ~dminis~ration 's successful break with and absent condescending comments by business

38
faculties about the ..sinecures" of gutless govern- Thei:e are more than 21,000 students enroUed in
ment bureaucrats. M.PA and related programs,.up·from fewer than .11,000.
1n 1973. Almost six out ·of ten· M.P.A. students are
women, and nearly foor out of ten are students of color.:
NASPAA's Nascency

In 1970, the National Association of Schools of Public Paradigm 6: ·Governance, 1990-Present

Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) was founded,
and its formation represented not only an act of seces- "Sea changes in technology, communication, the
sior1 by public administrationists~ but a rising self- global economy; and the. power and role of govern-
confidence as·well. · The Association is comprised of . ment are causing self-assessments within the business,
about 260 of America's Master of Public Admin- nonprofit, and government sectors. The roles of the
istration· (M.P.A.) and related degree programs- sectors are changing."
essentially all such programs in the United States. In
1983, NASPAA's members· voted to become the The Future of Governing
nation's professional accrediting agency for these
degrees. Most particularly, these sectmal "sea changes'~ meta-
About 160 M.P.A. andrel~ degree programs have morphose how. we govern,
been accredited by NASPM and itS accieditation asso-
ciates with greater prestige, more .~tfectiye programs, The Decline of Governmenls. We consider in greater
and an enhanced ability·to recruithigherq~ty faculty detail the governmental·consequences of these condi-
and students. NASPAA-a.ccredited programs offer a tions in upcoming chapters, but, at root, globalization.
consistent core curriculum nationally (m contrast to the the Internet, and related developments pressure govern-
chaotic core curricula found in sebools of generic man- ments to reduce their sovereignty so that earth may be
agement- and ·these programs 3I:e _~generally more
J ),

governed as a .planet Hence, the institutional distinc-

focuse:d on professional skills" than are unaccredited tions among the public, nonprofit, and private sectors,
programs. ''NASPAA standards appear to work well."!' · and among federal, state, and local governments, which
already are fuzzy, muddy, and gray, will grow fuzzier,
The Statistics of Secession muddier, and gni.yer. American·governments are relin-
quishing, by design or default, their traditional responsi-
Public administration's secessi()n from the fields of bilities to individual· Citizens; groups of. citizens;
political science and management is real. For .more pnblic.. .:.private partnerships; the nonprofit sector; the
than three decades. about hili of all M.HA., public private sector; public authorities; associations of gov-
policy, public aff~s. and related programs consis- ernments; and other governmentS.'
tently hav,e be~n conducted not in political science As one scholarly wit-winsomely asked, "Wither
departments or management ~chools, but in freestand- the state?".
ing colleges, sch()ols, and similar writs.
"In the 2000s, about three oiit ·o f ten M.P.A and The Rise of Governance. We a:re. ·in sum, moviilg
related degrees·are offered by political science depart- away from goverrzment, or the·control over citizens
ments. a fiiute . that -is ~lowiy declining over time. and the delivery of public benefits by institutions of
.The number of public administration progriuns that the state. ~d we are moving toward governance, or
are housed within schools.ofbnsiiless.(a category that configurations of laws, P<>Iicie5, organizations, insti-
includes some 'schools of management) ·also,has fall~n tutions. cooperative arrangements, ~d agreements
over the yeats, declining from 17 percent in 1973 to that control citizens and deliver p_ublic benefi'ts.
ll percent currently: Government is ~titutional; governance is institu-
This move toward Cij1. autonomous academic field tional and networked.
has been. good for public administration. The most The emergence of gQvernanc.e is amply docu-
effective M.P.A. programs.are those that are. ~­ mented: A unique analysis o~ more than 800 empiri-
tered by freestanding schools ~d dep~ents;· and cal studies, covering a range of disCiplines, found ·a
these units are ~xperiencing the fastest rates of student ·general shifting away from "hierarchical govern-
growth ofall organizational types.~ ment" and a distinct movement toward '~iizontal39
goveming," involving "a gradual addition .of new technical assistance can stimulate significant . . . inter-
administrative forms."! agency cooperation and coordination."r
A.n analysis of fourteen intergovernmental manage-
"Making a Mesh. of Things." More. than 3: half- ment networks found that they produced: new knowl-
century ago, a distinguished scholar foretold of gov- edge; new fmancial resources; new or revised p]ans
erning by network, defining ~ublic administration as and policies; spin-off projects that enhanced their
"ma.k4lg a mesh of things." The outlines of the missions; and ''tangible outcomes re]ated to enhancing
mesh of governance follow. overall pu_blic-sector capacit)'," such as new training
programs.
W~hington hires, through contracts, grants, and
mandates, more than eight times the numher of civilian
"What little empirical research we have suggests that
employees who are on its payroll. These "indirect" fed-
governance brings measurable benefits. Prudence
erz.l workers are found in corporations, independent
demands, however, that we not abandon traditional
associations, and state and local governments. In states
approaches to governing, notably, the bureaucracy• ~d
and localities alone, almost half of all their govern-
contracting with the market ''Insofar as researchers or
ments' employees are there solely because Washington
politicians still believe in the superiority of one particu-
bas paid for them or (more commonly) demanded
lar approach." their beliefs are "based on wishful think-
them.
ing. Firs"t, the nature of the task does most emphatically
Two-thirds of the states contract out public ser-
vices.· -·. The states also are densely networked with matter. Second, and more importantly, bureaucracies,
markets, and networks, are institutions, each with its
their communities, and provide one out of every three
own.dis"tinct sets of stakeholders, interests, and tradi-
dollars in local governments' budgets.
tions that can "create unexpected mismatches" of task
All cities and counties contract out services, and
and approach that do not worl:: at alL
half of all local services are delivered not by their local
governments, but by public-private partnerships,
profit-seeking companies, nonprofit organizations, The Future of Public Administration
e>ther governments, subsidies, franchises, volunteer$,
vouchers, and other means. Some types of locai The fuque of public administration is one of less gov-
administrators spend one full working day out of five ernment. Americans who want to·serve the public, and
on "handling the· interdependencies between their there are. inany, increasingly are turned off by govern-
organizations and oth~rs," and city governments link ment. Far more young adnlts express an interest in
their activities with an average of sixty other public. working for a community service organization than in
private, and nonprofit organizations. working for government.:
Less than two-thirds of the gra:duates of all
Does Governance Woli? Making a mesh of ~gs M.P.A. and similar programs are employed by
seems to work reasonably well. The more that a governments on graduation, and, at the twenty top
city collaborates with others, the more vibrant its programs, not even half are. The~e proportions are
economy. lowering over time. Almost two-thirds of the top
twenty programs• graduates who enter government
• There is a positive conelation between intense collab- service switch to other sectors, and nearly three-
oration ~ong public organizations and a high level of quarters of those who leave government depart for
satisfaction held by clients. 1 •
"more challenging work" (only a fourth leave for·
• "At a minimum, managerial networ:k:i.ng boost,s educa-
better salaries).' · .
tional perlormance" in school districts.
It is projected tnat every five years more than half
• ''Two-thirds of stakeholder.;" in seventy-six watershed
partnerships '-'believed their partnership had improved of Presidential Management Fellows, who are some of
watershed conditions." the best graduates in the country and are devoted to
• Participants ill "public sector knowledge networks" public service. could leave the federal government~
discovered that obstacles were not as formidable as Two-fifths of those who plan to leave cite "too few
they had expectea, and rewards were_several.· . oppo~~es to do something wortbwliile" as a prime
• "Interorganiz.ational. linkages within public agencies" motivator. ·
enhance the ''provision of child development services." Universities have responded to these ne440 0 realities~
Haooilv. "even ·a: modest level of external suovort and and more than a hundred offer masters degrees with a
 Paradigms of Public A.dministt:arion

coocentration in nonprofit managem~t Almost halfl~

these concentrations aie offered by M.~.A. programs.
We are-not in·tbe business of Jcnoc~g g?ve~ent
W d - t ,0 illustrate, however, that the msntuttons
th~t :apw:e the ima~ations and loy~ty of those
.AJnericans who are among the most passionately com-
mitred to the public service·are increasingly kss likely
to be governmenis.

Public Administration, Happy at Last

Public administration now straddles two paradigms.
One asserts its independence as a stand-alone field of
study and practice. The other asserts its paramount
purpose-cre'ating and implementing social change
for social good. .
Both paradigms are complementary and mutually
reinforcing. Without independence, public administra-
tion would be a soiiy. surly supplicant, shorn of tbe
capacity to chart its own co_urse. Without purpose,
independence would be irrelevant
,. This joyful, codependent, paradigmatic merger has
been a rang time coming. but it has .come. And it has
arrived in style. Just as public administration was a
prestigious model for managers in all sectors during
the J930s, so it is today: As a major business journal
argued, ··Public governance ... offers a distinct set of
ideas for how corporate governance can be improved
in practice . .. [and], to an. even larger extent, [these
ideas] could be app4ed to not-for-profit firms." 124
Public administration. happy at last

41
 Chapter-3

Golembiewski 2x2 Matrix

Implications for Modern Day Public Administration.

'If scholars live or die in terms of the images they create, students of public administration are
clearly in trouble even if some hope still exists. . .. ' Thus began Robert T. Golembiewski his
monumental book: 'Public Administration As a Developing Discipline, Part I, Perspectives on Past and
Present'. He devoted the book to provide content for Public Administration as a field. 'Content in his
case included not only an orientation to analysis, but also the skills and technologies necessary for
supporting cumulative traditions of research and application. To quote from the book ' Public
administration's early history is studded with symbols testifying to its rich destiny and petformance. Not
only were all problems ultimately administrative problems, for example, but the very existence of our
civilizations depended upon the success with which we learn of to cope with the administrative
ultimates.' Woodrow Wilson's influential conclusion who noted, "it is getting harder to run a
constitution, than to frame one" did generate its many an echo. Again to quote from the Foreword to the
monumental 1937 publication 'Papers on the Science of Administration' by Luther Gulick and Lyndall
Unvick, "if those who are concerned scientifically with the phenomena of getting things done through
cooperative human effort will proceed along these lines we may expect in time to construct a valid and
accepted theory of administration."

The confidence of the first half of the 20th century, however, did not last long. "For a variety of
reasons," Frederick Mosher concluded, "public administration stands in danger of ... senescence."
Frederick Mosher further emphasized the crisis of identity concern soon thereafter:

'More is now known about public administration than was the case twenty years ago. But there
is a great deal more to know. There are more depths to probe than were then visualized, and more
different perspectives from which to start the probing. This field need bow to no other in respect to its

42
sophistication about its subject matter. But such sophistication can senesce into mere dilettantism unless
it is grounded in premises and hypotheses that are in some degree ordered and tested and that are
continuously refreshed with new data and experience.'

The four phases in the development of public administration according to Robert T.

FOCUS

RELATIVELY RELATIVELY
SPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED

RELATIVELY
SPECIFIED
PHASE PHASE
III II
LOCUS

RELATIVELY
UNSPECIFIED
PHASE PHASE
I IV

Golembiewski may be schematized and viewed as being encompassed by the four cells of the 2x2
matrix (see below). The four major phases of conceptual development of public administration as a
discipline may, accordingly, be summarized thematically as follows:

Phase I. The analytical distinction of politics from administration, interpreted as ideal categories
or functions of governance, which functions are performed in different institutional loci in varying
degrees.
The classic separation of powers, which prescribes the desirability of entrusting "in large measure," the
expression or formulation of the "will of the sovereign" to "a different organ" than is charged with
executing that willi lies in the heart of Frank Goodnow's conceptual "two distinct functions of
government" which he designates as politics and administration. "Politics has to do with policies of
expressions of the state will," elaborated Goodnow, "administration has to do with the execution of
these policies." Frank Goodnow ' s Politics and Administration may be deemed to provide the content for
Phase I. Though it sufficiently describes the analytical focus of public administration the real locus of
the appropriate phenomenon remains largely unspecified, hence the search for another guiding concept,
presumably, got the fillip.

Phase II. The concrete distinction of politics from administration, with the former conceived as
having a real locus in the interaction between legislatures and high-level members of the execqt~ve, and
the latter as having a real locus in the bulk of the public bureaucracy. 43
 Unlike Phase I, which had a sharper analytical focus, and relatively unspecified locus, Phase II
proposed a sharp and concrete separation between "politics" and "administration." The locus of public
administration is restricted to the governmental bureaucracy, but within the locus the discipline knows
no analytical limits. The difficulties with Phase II are significant. The formulation of public policy
typically involves complex combinations of bureaucrats and politically responsible officials with the
former not always clearly "on tap rather than on top"; and that "policy" is typically a product of
"administration" as well as its tether. Phase II also encouraged neglect of relevant phenomena in other
loci, especially in business. Phase II by its emphasis upon locus rather than focus, assumes that where
phenomena occur is more significant than what the phenomena are- seemingly a procrustean basis for
differentiation. Appleby concluded in 1949, "much of its literature tended to accept as substantially real
a separation of powers which excluded from administration any- or at least important- policy-making
functions."ii Phase II encouraged two major emphases:
1. The "neutral specialist" as the answer to the world's administrative problems,iii and
2. The bureau movement that assumed that hyper factualism was the simple road to the
good administrative state.iv
Only slight exaggeration or conceptual carelessness about reliance on experts and on facts was
required, that is, to pair the separation of politics and administration with an equally sharp separation
between value and fact.

Phase III. A science of management, which emphasizes the isolation and analysis of
administrative processes, dynamics, activities, or "principles" that are seen as universal or at least as
having applicability in many organizations.
Roughly, Phase III may be characterized as a concern with managerial phenomena, that is, with
the administration component of Phase I and was variously restricted, and often was expressed in terms
of a concrete working locus at lower levels of organization, and it proposed to deal with specific but
diverse phenomena within that locus. Yet, Phase III asserted that its results applied to all or many
organizations and not only to public ones.
Broadly, the Phase III spirit is reflected early in the "principles" literature. Later, the spirit was
forcefully expressed in the decision-making schema of Herbert Simon, which sought to encompass a
central and generic managerial process from mathematical and statistical and also behavioral
perspectives.v
Phase III's status as the guiding concept for public administration was determined by reactions to
three major technologies or orientations, as they existed in the 1930s and 1940s, namely:
Scientific Management, as typified by time-and-motion studies
Early work in Human Relations, largely in sociological studies that emphasized the
limitations of Weber's bureaucratic model and stressed "informal organization"
The focus on Generic Management
Scientific Management approach tended to argue that there is a "one best way" to organize work
that inheres in specific situations, rather obscuring the role of values. Similarly, early Human Relations
work reflected the implicit goal of molding humans to more or less hostile but inviolate technological
requirements. Summarily, technological values simply over shadowed the values of man, and men
adapted to the technology.
In contrast to the above two varieties of Phase III work, Generic Management focused on
processes and activities- leadership or panning etc. that were considered common to many or even all
realms of the management of men and that might appear at many or all levels of any organization.
Marshall Dimock explains: 44
 Administration is both social engineering and applied psychology. It is apparatus
and mechanics, incentives and human nature. Let no one think it is merely the former.
Nowhere is the need for psychology greater than the organization, direction, and
inspiration of men working in large groups. Outstanding administrative results are
products of psychological mainsprings and invigorating incentives. . . . Modem
governmental administration is a new synthesis. It is necessarily concerned with all fields
of knowledge and all matters, which enter into the carrying out of official policies and
programs.vi
The key difference between Generic Management and Scientific Management or Human
Relations lies in the treatment of values. In Papers on the Science of Administration, Urwick announced:
there are principles which can be arrived at inductively from the study of human
experience of organization which should govern arrangements for human association of
any kind. These principles can be studied as a technical question, irrespective of the
purpose of the enterprise, the personnel comprising it, or any constitutional, political or
social theory underlying its creation.vii

Martin, however, uses the term "scientific management" to encompass all phase III work and
notes:
As applied to public administration, the credo of scientific management came in
time to be characterized by attention to administration without much stress on the public
part of the tetm, by faith in "principles," by emphasis on science in administration, and
by divorce of administration and values ....
In the atmosphere provided by scientific management, a mechanistic concept of
public administration came to prevail widely and in important circles. Administration was
separated from the legislative.... "Politics" was anathema- not the politics practiced by
administrators, but the politics of the "politicians".... Champions of the new order wrote
and spoke ... as though man were nothing more than "administrative man," eager to
spring to his place in the organization table and fall to on his appointed segment of
POSDCORB.viii
Simon provided an alternative definition of the scope of public administration in terms of focus.
As Landau observed, "Simon was trying to redefine a public administration so as to give it a 'solid
center,' a standard of relevance, a set of operating concepts- to make it, in short, a 'field' of inquiry. This
was the function of the decision-making schema."ix
Simon' s decision-making schema served two ends: (1) It proposed the phase III variant of the
scope of public administration as an alternative to the public-policy orientation; and (2) it outlined the
senses in which Simon interpreted Goodnow's analytical distinction between politics and administration.
Simon saw "deciding" rather than "doing" as the heatt of administration and focused generally on the
"premise of decision" rather than on "decision." The distinction revealed Simon's generic and synthetic
emphases, as opposed to an empirical one rooted in specific decisions and as contrasted with an interest
in a public or business locus. For Simon, decision-making involves both factual and ethical elements.
The "Facts" may be validated by empirical tests, whereas "values" are imperatives beyond empirical
proof or disproof. According to Simon, "different criteria of 'correctness' ... must be applied to the
ethical and factual elements in a decision."x
Simon recognized the basic distinction between factual and ethical elements as analytic or
synthetic. Reality does not always divide so neatly. Given that behavior in organizations is intentionally
purposive at multiple levels, an "end" in some immediate means-end linkage may be a "menns" 45 in a
more distant means-end linkage. Simon's decision rule for applying his analytical distinction is: As far
as decisions lead to the selection of "final Goals," they are considered to be value judgments" beyond
empirical validation. When decisions implement any final goals, they are "factual judgments."xi
Simon elaborates:
If the factual elements in decision could be strictly separated, in practice, from the
ethical, the proper roles of representative and expert in a democratic decision-making
process would be simple. For two reasons, this is not possible. First, as has already been
noted, most value judgments are made in terms of intermediate values, which themselves
involve factual questions. Second, if factual decisions are entrusted to the experts,
sanctions must be available to guarantee that the experts will conform, in good faith, to
the value judgments that have been democratically formulated.xii
At least six reinforcing factors were seen both probable and significant in Phase III's short reign
before rejection-
1. The demise of Phase III was largely a result of intellectual leadership from political
science, which all but unanimously took to the public-policy track of Phase IV.
2. The demise of Phase III seemed due to common feeling among students that they had
gone about as far as they could go with it.xiii
3. The eclipse of Phase III was also attributed to the general unavailability in public
administration of the enhanced analytical skills required by the concept.
4. Phase III had a short run because it was thought to narrow sharply the scope of public
administration. Values were neglected in much work in Phase III- particularly m
Scientific Management and in early Human Relations.
5. Phase III in many respects seemed a bad bargain. They argued, for example, that
(1) Phase III required commitment to a science but did not furnish specific direction to
attain if;
(2) that the several varieties of Phase III work required new competencies that either were
being handled well by other specialists or whose contribution to the study of public
administration was unclear;
(3) that all varieties of Phase III tended to cut off public administration from vast area of
traditional concern; and
(4) that Phase III offered science as a colorless substitute for the rich prescriptive and
normative concern that is so vital a patt of the heritage of American political science and
public administration.
6. Phase III advocates hardly presented a unified front.

Phase III was widely seen as sharing a number of features with Phase II, such as the separation
of politics from administration. Phase III's emphasis on universality of administration distinguished it
from Phase II's territorial definition of public administration yet it was perceived as neglecting vast
areas of interest to students of public affairs. This uncomfortable duality invited rejection.

Phase IV. The pervasive orientation toward "public policy" in which politics and administration
commingle and which has an unspecified locus that encompasses the total set of public and private
institutions and processes that are policy relevant
"Public-policy approach" can be dated accurately enough as a post-World War II phenomenon.
Phase IV was built upon two basic themes:xiv
1) the interpenetration of politics and administration at all or many levels, and 46
 2) the programmatic character of all administration.
These themes, in sum, directed attention in public administration toward political or policy-
making processes, as well as toward specific public programs.
Conceptually Phase IV to begin with (1945-1960) reasserted the ties between political science
and public administration in two ways: via emphasis on a common locus though the programmatic
aspects of administration and via stress on the interpenetration of politics and administration. Thus the
role of values in public administration got highlighted- the emphasis also was not "mechanical" as was
Scientific Management. In effect, Phase IV undercut the rationale for pairing public administration with
business administration, both in substance and in spirit.

After two or three decades of preoccupation with behavioralism, both political science and public
administration had moved into a "post behavioral era (1960-1975)."xv The avant-garde in both political
science and public administration gave substantial attention in the 1960s to developing an approach that:
was prescriptive as to the content of political policies, processes and institutions, which
implies the need to raise and answer such traditional questions as, "what is the just state?"
was intra disciplinary in the sense that it redirected attention to what Lowi calls macro-
politics: "the nature, composition, and functioning of the political system," with emphasis of
"political theory, public law, institutional economics, and old-fashioned political
institutions"xvl
was value-loaded in pervasive senses, in that values are explicitly admitted at all or many
stages of analysis, even encouraged
was philosophically nonparochial, as in admitting radical values aimed at destroying the
existing order as a prelude to building some new political order, as well as conservative
values aimed at reforming the existing order

The "policy orientation" well suited these evolving emphases-

Firstly and primarily the focus on policy had the effect on both political science and public
administration of emphasizing their common and distinctive "political" content. For Lowi, the most
important questions were:xvii
What is the policy as a policy, defined not as an isolated individual decision but as part of a
"long line of intention" of government?
What is the policy as a law, that is to say, what is the specific type of coercion behind any
policy?
What is the impact of the policy on the political system? For example: how will different
kinds of policy and coercion affect the long-run capacity to govern? How do current policies
affect the access of all publics to the political system? How and to what degree do current
policies to the political system? How and to what degree do current policies and types pf
coercion provide defenses against bad policies?

Second, the emphasis on public policy would reduce the time and effmts devoted to mastering
interdisciplinary technologies and knowledge and hence permit increased attention to unique
disciplinary concerns. Moreover, some observers doubted that interdisciplinary linkages could be
developed in the proximate future, especially given the macro-character of the central concerns in
political science and the micro-emphasis in much of sociology, psychology, and economics.

47
 Thirdly the political scientists had long maintained, "Theirs is the policy science" and were
pleased to see political scientists now doing something to deserve that claim.xviii
Fourth, as Dye put it, the emphasis on policy analysis is the "thinking man's response to
demands for relevance." Dye and others saw policy analysis as slipping between the horns of the
dilemma, of permitting greater relevance while preserving academic values.
The swift and widespread acceptance of Phase IV essentially rolled back some four or five
decades of history, during which political science and public administration to a degree had become
differentiated and yet related.

******
The 21st century real time communication and participation possibilities in the activities of the
world and obliteration of geographical constraints to the accessibility of intellectual resources of the
society has to put a craving in the individual which is beyond just aspire to 'live'. Similarly the
enlightened human being of the 21st century can neither be condemned for not being proactive in
furtherance of what the technology seemingly ordains. The pool of wisdom now at the disposal of the
individual human being should, save his own lethargy, must not only suffice but also even exhort him to
excel.
The other equally important dimension which has been added by the immense data crunching
capability placed at the disposal of the humankind by the technology is the deepening of its concern to
the primordial economic issue, namely, 'out of today's earnings how much can be consumed today and
what need be saved for tomorrow' in a much more comprehensive form. The sustainability concerns
inclusive of those for ecology has become a consensus concern.
In the light of above discussion and historicity of the field of 'public administration' following
hypothesis regarding the basic ingredients of 'public administration' are being propounded:
1) Public affairs
2) State intervention
3) Propensity to excel
4) Sustainability
Public administration may, accordingly, be defined as 'the sum total of state intervention in
public affairs to facilitate all to excel in their respective avocation with due regard to sustainability'.
All the four dimensions need some elaboration:
'Public affairs' as a verbal symbol is not new to the field. The phrase as a language construct
carries all the appropriate connotations, which need to convey the difference between public and private.
'State intervention' in the context of the beginning of the third millennium need be
comprehensively defined both in the context of extant as well as mechanism and must include the state
of 'no intervention' in its fold along with the 'third party' and self regulatory and facilitation
mechanisms.

48
 All the four dimensions need some elaboration:
'Public affairs' as a verbal symbol is not new to the field. The phrase as a language construct
carries all the appropriate connotations, which need to convey the difference between public and private.
'State intervention' in the context of the beginning of the third millennium need be
comprehensively defined both in the context of extant as well as mechanism and must include the state
of 'no intervention' in its fold along with the 'third party' and self regulatory and facilitation
mechanisms.
'Propensity to excel' we have argued that in the present state of technological development in the
field of communication, data processing and transportation the appropriate avocation for present day
human can be described only in terms of
'propensity to excel'. Demography has already
put 'procreation' in the negative list of worthy
goals of today's human society. The 'live and
let live' paradigm for social and political
discourse which ruled the human civilization till
much of the 20th century has also to be
appropriately revised as the technology ordains
to 'excel and help others excel'.
'Sustainability' both in terms of ecology
and intergenerational equity in its most
comprehensive construct has to be inbuilt in all
formulations, which the public at large or
through the instrumentality of state undertakes
to satisfy its urge dictated by 'propensity to
excel'.

Pictographic representation of
'Public Administration'
PA = P 2 S 2

49
 t!ISCOREI
Chapter-4

THE SIMON/WAL'D O DEBATE:

A REVIEW AN.D U.P.DATE

MrCHAEL M.. HARMON

George Washington University

INTRQ·DUCTION
During 1952, the A~erican Political Science Review
published·perhaps·a memorable -~d acrimonious debate in the
intellectual history .of,.AJnerielql public adm.inisti-atibn. Herbert
Simon and_Dwight,Waldo, arguably the·two chief ·protagonists
in the discipline during ~e p~ half-century, squared off in a
p~blie confrontation that pitted against one another· polar -
extl'emes of both philosophical orientation and intellectual style.
[1} -The issues_ that divided Simon .and Waldo .were, and_
contii::i:~e to be, cential to public administration thooey and
~. including: 1} tho meaning, role, and limi~ons of
usclenee'~ - for ~tive study; 2) the p~cal and
analy.tical_ .distinctio~ between values and f~. poliCy 8lld
a~tion; 3) th~ nature of ·~esponsible'' adlninistration;
and~) the relevance of con-stitutional democratic theory for the
acad~)J~dy .of. public administration. While these issues
·wet9 ·surely evident in the 1952 exchange, -~ey were often
blurred: -~e~ - o~. to the highly charged and ad hon#nem ·
~ --of the debate that ·tOok ··phlte. liideed~- the APSR _·
·exchange between ·Simon and Waldo. can be re~ed as ·
· · hil.pc;>rtant msiniy ln.sofar as it en~loo the public collision of two
profoundly ~erent normative images Q_f adminiatrative study
whose.central insisbts.were artiCulated by both writers fsr more
· clearly-both before and·afterthe ~ebate thaii during it. · · · ,.
.. The Simon/Waldo exchange in the ~SR .~ppelii-8 · ~ ·have

50
 [CISCO REI

been provoke4 by . a -footnote ·.in Waldo's lengthy essay,

·"Development of Theory of D_e mocratic A~pn·~
{1952a).
. . La~~ that esBa.y,
. . WSldo-argued that_.. a chie{ obs:tacle_
'

to a fuller development of'democratic theory m .public adiri~is:..

· tration. was the then~prevailini- ·belief in- .''efficiency ~ -the
central concept iri our ~science'.,. (Ibid.-;. 97-). Waldo .disPuted
this Claini.onihe gro~&:t1lai ~fficie.ncy wa.S
~ot'a :vaiu_~~elitral
concept and that i~ .aecep_tailce as a primary value enmtiraged
· \is -~erely to •'tolera~~:~•certain amount of. democracy -~
we «})elieve• in it, .. winch, in the end, "commits one'-s :self:to
nihilismu (Ibid.). Waldo's target in this passage was clearly .
Simon, although tbiB·was made ·explicit only in a foot.DQte·which
abruptly~and rather.o~·of context-[2)-injected Simon~a~name
into -the discussion (Ibid.):

In this contention. th9 pmont·"weightof at"'.hority" is again!rt·mo•.But I

lM!ieTII that_there b uo nab of ••fa~·.dociaiob.e"" -hom :whkh ~- .Jn
exclud.id. To decide is to~~~~ al~ativeti to di008o~bew'Mn
~tfves · ia to introd~.;e.~ea;; ll~m:Siinc:m h:u:pat.entl,y ~e~cuc,.
at&D4big contribution~ to.~-!'t!2':11'· 1'hesa.eon~ ha-.:•.
been made, however, wben-·ho hlia wc;ded-~ of thtt :i:zfelhodology'[Pf&-
-s~&bly, loglUJ p~.ti\'lii!X'Jll.,:h·utaaerled. -

To apprecli.\te fulljr-what: lay behind ;Waldo's -'~·

refereneeto Siinon, ~ W.~Up Si:aiion~s silbsequent-i'espon&e:and-
w ata.O~s reply to SiiQonJn;tlie,ffinoWi:Dg ·.iBime of.the ~;:lt~il
instinctive =-to cont:raBt 'select&d:: ~ of•. :their~·· tJiaomtical
positions-a5 pnuJeiited:..abnut five~yeara earlier jn-. wa!dO~s: T1u:
A~n:istative·:st4te (19!48) and:<Siinon~s:Aam·~; lhkav-
ior (1947). This is· more than a mere -hiitorl.Cal digresaum't in
these two. volrimes, 'W8ldo ,and:'snlion offer:·Ute fUtat-icompr.
b~·statements·of.t~eirVi'ewa,on'the:~stnd,tofi~
and in fomiats free of:the'defeilSiveriess:'~at~ ah:n:ost m~ite))J;y
attends head-to-h~d· deb de. ma~. tn& - APsR: ~ is
probably ~ost aceurately~· &een· 'iis-~littl~ ,m dre"·tnan ah- 'm i-
mo~:Ds·'foofnote-to th~. ~ij~:won.fll · .-

Although" Waldo's volume wu publiahed iJf 1948 {cme ~

after~'s), itwasalreadyin~bythetiJne~~

51
 mscOREI

. .
Behavior. was-released, which eXplains ~hy no references to it .
are found in 0 Waldo's book. Simon's name · _does ·a:ppear7:
however, in connectioo ~~·two. of -~ e~ller w.orks. one:,of ·
'th~- _is. m' Chap~.-.iO~. '-'EConomy ~d Efficiency,'-'... in· _w~h.·.
Waldo ··reviews -·siin9D~s _ conaboratioD:- with .C~E . . Ridley~_·_ ·tel':~·
yem.::¢arli~r--(1938).+ .Waldo desCri'bes..this work a.,.. an: ·~~iVa ·­
treatment of ~~:- ~JJ.~~pt of effiqencyr _- al~ovg~ J:le is less -~­
enamored, Wi~·r,e{9.9.e.iicy :as,. a- norm~tive vruu~·. notmg • 'that
'theptire ~Rt.~f~efficj~ncy/ prop<)se¢. by Gulick as"the basic
'good' of -_admfui~ative- .~dy, is a mirage'' (Wald_o. 1952a:
l-93):. .
_- ;~~•..oth~/rq~~~~A,_~o:f__~~Qn Js ~ore significan~ ~ it is
mta\~;m_J;~f~t~'A~,\~ ~~,.~~e.~t.later proved to be a point of
eveil{gr~~r -~f!~l,itlon ·betvi'e-en the two authp~. In C.baP~ 9
ofThe4dmili.~e8tate, '~Principles, Theory ofOrgamzation
:and::Scientif:i~~~.!~ WaldQ-~ces the histocy of "t3cie:nce''
·-m • :lililic ·k<fffl;Dj~on· ffun:r~'
-· ·· - -~""f-.i~~·-··.' _...... . ~~·-!.~~ ....
its~- 'naive association
......" •.- . ..·...-~ ·- :; ' . ...
- ·{and
;

~~on}' Wi~ppnc;tples···:oE.v-m<>rtll necessity~ the ffiikage of

th~~~~~eniifict~«>~:at -prlncipi~· with refo~ in public
adm.imSl~~i~7 'Whleh·w8$:i.aii~W.ea by the rejeCtion of them by
the pragniti~; und ends with a summary of the sophisiicated
qitiques of '\ll"e. ~·p:rincipl~s' ,. app~oach to admil)i~~on
(~clu,~ :tlleij.-~Qns-. tp. __ scie~ce) made by L.D. White.
~e~; ~~~ ~ancJ:.~_..o·. Ston~~ . .
_, . .'"W;~<Jg•s ·~~mp~:-i~--·t~s -c hapter-was to sharpen t)le ~c­
Jip~))j!~~~;n,- ~4!~ ~ote the·-complemen~~ as:;w,~Jl~?~e
~~~R~;.;U..~Q!i.s_ :of. ~en~ :~-~ co~.C?~ --~~~,·~\.Qle
;' ~~~ - i ·. J)l\bU.
~;~_.;;...0 ,_;~{,·· d • ·• trati
.;;;E}!Dlft., · Iii
... ~ , 9:D:,,..L ·
..--;..;·s_m>port 'f hiS. -:·:¥.~.1-~.~-
·.. ·. R.~~~: ..~cal'
.~;p~~n--of 1~~~ ~~i-~mmPn}·~~nse~ W~4o E!P~~~gly
.. ~§.!m9p,'~ ··~~~-':~Y..rt'-~B~:-~h~ Prov~t:~s o( ~~­
~p'!· O.~~ql-.[Ql ~~~~~W..¥.~-- -·Yl~~o eo~~Jt~, . ''Qn the
~~ · ~~~ "~:~n'.~~<:G,S!~Y ·~·:~:rrobora~ve of l;IlaDY .o~. the
_-.w.~~ ~4.e·b;J. ,tllf8'.~~~6g~~·;tw!Udo·, 1948!185)~ ...-...... · -.,.-.-·-- ·· _..·
_.. That :Slm.on_•s ·early;.-·Y!9r-Ji:',~hp_9ld me~(Wi~~ ::W~do's ..(8Ibeit· .-·.
:. ·· nilld).· appro'Yal is un'derBtalidable in View
of the criticisms niade
b_y both Wziter~·of;~~ P.~V:~·i¢entismthat pervaded much of the .
public-ad.miiiiStration·liteiatnre.up to that time. They extended
t~ir. _ criti¢.sm's; . how~ver~ in different Ciil:ect¥ms and toward .. :·
· · ··quite diffe~ . e~. :Th~ po~t ·¢ Waldo.'s. critiqu~ was· .io .

52
Ashutosh Pandey [CBJSCOREJ

'd emarcate clearly "scien~e. which" deals with question .of .'what ..
is th~ case? .. from administration, which involves ..qu~ons of .. .
·~ • • • • •• 1 ~ •• • •• • • • • • • • • •

"what is to b~ done?" (Ibid. ·, 171}. In tP.us as~erting a. c?mmon .

~ense distinction l;>etWe~n ''is" ·and ''ou·~ht, ~ J _
Waldo·_seem.s at·· ..
first glance to be not very far ap<llt from ·. the . analytical
dichotOmy that Simon drew inAdininistrat"ive .B~havior between :
i~cts ~d. v~~es.· · aowever~· whe~ s~on u~~d. the 'f~ct-vaiue. · ­
dichotomy ast he ba.Sis for ~ epiStemological di~c_tion
between administration and policy, Waldo ua~A ;his ~ogQus
distinction to separate, analytically. adininistration from
science. That is, to Waldo both.policy antl~dmjnistration belong
on the value or "ought" side of the equation (with-science on
the fact or ''is" side), while SimonJs version -puts po}icy and
administration on oppqsite sides (with scienc~ .the servant of the
latter).
To Waldo, administrative study is concerned with .tbjnking
and valuing. •'Valoing implies moraijty conceptions of right 7

and· wrong. It is submitted that th~- establishf!f/.·.:_tecft:n:fq~~s... of

science·ar:e·inapplicable to thinking aw.:l~aluiP}g;/~!'m~}!-;~8~~,
(lbid.·, -171) ..-And further, ~'questions..pfyt!lu~-~~.t:nQt ~eJ!~Je
to scientific treatmene· .(lbid.i) •. ~ sbnon' ·"'could· ···well. · ha~e
• • _,, • - · ~ .- ~ "':' I ' I"!'#"#', a 4" ,._ ;- '• • •

-endor~ef!i·i;in a literal s~nse-. ...-W

t alQ.9!s;·last·.:~enW.p~~, ~~·~:n.i~:s~qst
-asspredly·.not:the concl~~ns~tha~~e.;:a.<J,Q.q~~5l!P-·Jt.,:.Wti}!!9~s
-project was~ after all., to -wiy:n9f:the.l.im.i~~of·. . Jtci.~~ce
........-
.
~'
. hum@~
~ .- .

and,. in particular, administJ~tiye;,~~;.--w:Q!leJ~~9!!~s .:w..~.-?>

inform.us·ofits :power.··Aa:.W,~i shall ;~ee~l!l.ter=iA~t]l~ ~cu~9A of
Administrative Behavior:, · ,Si,qlon~s -..con..~~P~OJ!;~ot ·· th~~~!~- of
-science in-administration is~'an-~e-~~ly ,~P.P~t!~~~:Q~e-~d
· b.js- linkage of the fact-val1:1e <iln4·.. ~Ucy5a:d_n;ai_nistratiqn
dichotomy much subtler than one might conclude:from.rea4ir!g
Waldo·s side of the APSR debate.
·Before turning to·t.he Simon .volume, mentio~ shou,IQ.}>e -m.ade
-~~-.a -~pi~-~~~cal__po·s,i~~m -:;~~a~. ~'?~~;[;J~~~~I?~~-rniR:~nt:l:r ~ .
. W~do~sJater qi.Uci~ 9f:.·.~imon, "!>l:l:!:tQ;_Wpi_~A .n~-H~~~:t?,-~e.:~ .
·made in· The Administrative.- ~tate ...Simon · ~)i~tJY. gro:un~_ed
his theoretical position in the philo~ophy of.logi~ PO$iti~sm.
in partiCUlar" in its radical sep~atimi of fa~ flom: -v.:~u.e·. W~do
.notes in his 1984 introduction to the second edition of The
...
A~trativ~
. . '
·. Statnhat "lit the
.
time. .h~.
~wi~te ·It, durmg .ilie
'

53
53
 [CBJSCOREJ

absence of. a full-blown defense of logicai positivisin·tb:~ ·from

:·t he intuitive. comm·o n se~a appeal of the fact-vable· dichotomy.
In -its· Simplest fo·rm, the dichotomy between fact ·an.d value is
identicd.: :io ···the - _eve;ryday ~ction ·. ).J~tw.e~n~ ~'itl··. ·. ·. _and
"ought''.-:-:a distinction · ~t m:ost gro_Wil-np~ ~~d.
Moreover; the pr'eci_sj.~n •.power. and·pr.aetical ~pottaxice .of thE,;·
ideas thB.t Simon develop~-in·Ch8.~.3.may be-fully appreci8.ted
· on the.basis of their oommon;.Bense · foundation 'al9n~.· ~o ·t)le.
untutored·, the~assingreferences,to logical.positivismmay well
seem-gratuitous in view.ofthe absence ofa :fu.U~r explication of
them;.while some scholarly.;readers might·well.object to..Simon~s
entrusting the philosophicalclefesne·ofhis theory to luminaries
mentioned Jn .footnotes.
Policy and Administr.ation. De§Pite -some ~iguities in
Simonts explanation of, and distinction betW,~n. fa~ and
values, it would be iD. the w.orst~lrind ·of· caricature of Simon~ s
position to say that value ju~e~ts_,·~~ :tele¥8J1~- 'PQlicy- w
making-·a nd factuatjudgments. are· relevant}~~·l\djpi,n.J~~o~.~
and :.leave--it at that.. ·.Simon•s, ·m~nt: is,-~to,:·:u.~!ti·th~:r f~~~e
4ichotomy to estabijsh·-.an ep~mQlogi~, ~~on betw~
a~D.tion and~policy·~·-B.utt ·he;i.S~~~acq~}Y- -~w~ of;:Ute
:diff~~~ce- ~etwee.~~~:rp~~d~~~:~~ld..~~~o~~~-w~
u·of·~the "d.if&culttes ,~·"-;pl1¢f.i~;,~~..tiPf'-·;~~n-;rand
·policy-making. -For :e~ple;-t;~om;;g:r:~" .;thui1i~Q,}thqugh·,'fu
practice the·-.dividing;),in¢:':b~~~:~:iieJj'-l<J~~P:~t:AAQ.·,~~~
.ju'dgm.ents is often"blWJ;.ed.-;i·~~d~,-:npt·sf9rce?:ijl.e ®.nc.lusiQJI
that ' ~ analytical di.stin~on~h~tw~n~~~ni :~ -th~~O~?.)lot
usefnl.:·Indeed, such a-distincij~n·~s·:P.~eifs~;ot~~r:·w· ~~~.
some seDi~Jlmce of adminiStrative r~po~bilitY ~".dem,~tlc .
governn:ient~: which-~ p~ble,.only ~h~n.,an ~t le~,rq~
fUnctional diStinction . betwe~~- the ro.les-.of, ~~~tQ~ .::~~
administra~rs.is ~tained~-- Sotne genet:al guidelin~ fo;rL.~~
·a functional .distinctio9-. ar~~.. ~on, ·.say§, ·,P.e4~cJ.}Jle, .'fJ:'R:QJ;c.tlle..
· a.nalytic81 distinction·- of~ fa~~~:fiom e_thicah(~~e). ~es:tio~.
··riu~y. incltide ·( Ibid. ,'~7-58):· · ·
1. Resp~aibility to deuiocra~ iMUtaGolus for v.i'ue.·d~te"~lnation can be
streDgthent.-a by the mv~uti~ cWi)'#;ceaw·ab!eYieea iGimittmt! i. more
. effective ~ep~on of the -f~et,!l~ ~d !91~ ~·~!.I!~..;.$4~~~-~~-· · :
2. The' allocstion· o! a question·to legislator.
... - .
or a$nlnbtia~
.
for . dec:iaioD

54
 [iJSCOREI

should de_pend On the·wlatiT~ imporlanee Of the factual and et.hical' issues

iDvolved, .aDd the aegree to which the'former are contraveraial.
·S. Smee thejegisletive body must. of JJec:eesity make man)" !aetlial jndg-
taents, it:must.have ready llCC88S to mformaUo'P l:ll\d advice..
4. Since the admmiatratiVe a:genc:y must· of necessity· make ma.Dy value
judgments;, itmon &·rea,PUn.ive .to eo~liuity - vaiues, -far beyond those
~t- ~- explicitJl 'enaaed 'into law.

. .
Before. turning attention once a~ to the· Sin;lon/Waldo
exchange··fu the A.PSR,. ·mention ~hould be IXl.ade· of .smlon,.s·
comment ·abOut the b~s -:on which ,~tutions of dem\)C!Utic
government Iegitimatethe·value11idgments that underne ~licy
decisions~ Gon~nt. w.ith the tenets of logical. positivism. ,he
state$, t~me .process of ;validating_ ~ fa$al propositi_on~is quite
diStinct from the process of v;:Uidating a value·judgment. ~e
fonner,is;;v@~~4>by its.agr~ent. with:t~e facts, the la~r by
hllman~'" (laid.-, 56)·. An·a,
~cnemocratic institutio~- find
their:,.principal~~Ca9Qn ;&S~a~.procedure for the vali<Wion of
vall~e- jadginents" (lbUL-). ~.bes~ remarks, as.· we shall-.see_,
pJ;oViue~"EimttlUiiition--fo-i Waldo~s~~ply·to Simon-'s:.c riticisms of
Waldo~s article~on ~the theory_ofdemocratic administration..

-·THEAPSREXCllANGE

·In -~·'Dev~pment·of Theory of Democratic Admini!¢rS.tiPn,' •

.:waidQ_,:$0ught;-:to dem~nstrate the -~ role. historica.lly~ of
. dem~c--:.theocy· ih-·-the study of .achninistrntiQn- .and ' uto
~t:~imt ·.u pori/lUie<.prospectS and probleD;lS of tqe~~r
d~elopment of theoiy 'Of· dem~~ ,-~ol;l•' .·{W~do,
1~2a:82) •. ·A mong \ the . th~--~ecent encouraging Q:ends .~.that
"'1lave•~eared-,;tJier,.ground· and hi;itt th~ foundatiQiis fQr major
deve}optaent,.o! democratic ·~ive theory_~' (Ibid..,· a-,),
wataoJnC!nded first the viitua.habandonmento~.()f,,thei,·belief.·that
p:Q}iey and admi~ation are ~cll1S1ve categorles and,
~ndly, the YiJicreasi.ngly ¢tical treabn~nt, and even
occasional rej~on. of. efficiency as the .centqU concep~ in
~tion.SW.dy'' flbid..).
Simon.' a extensive diScussion of efficiency, it should be
rexpemb~~.. ~ directly Q~pendent {)P and follows from his
analyticaZ·~.
.
~- ~
ep&ra~on-of
-_.... ,_ " , ,... - . ·nom-administration,
.. -poliCy - value from
fact. 'But Wiil.do notes th~t, desp~ the. close .logical linkage

55
 @HSCOREI

between these two issues, the r~ection of efficiency Ubi4-, 87-

.SBl:
. .
·i s n'ot near!y so c}eai atid .~ivoc:at as is that of the aep¥&tioo ofpolitics
~t.nd administratiOJll ••• In ··faC;t. Herbert ·SimOh' s recent Admmi.Jtratio-e
Behavior presen;.s- a cloaely reason~d dden'e <Jf tbe. nollon· of an abetn~.~
scienc-e of admini2tratioti eentered·on efficiency. Th~. g~neJ:"al trend,- bo;.,-
ever; is·dear;" it'.s tO deemph~. to broaden and ..::JOCUiliie~" "even to
rejea.- the concepl of efficiency.

Waldo's tone is noticeably more pessimistic, however, later in

his essay whsn {and lending up to the infamous footnote} he
says that tp.e pelief in efficiency as a uvalue-neutral ca;>ncept,
(Ibid. , 87) is a major obstacle to the development of demQttatic
administration. In his ·footnote (q~oted fillly in the ~i!b.bn}
Waldo shifts the issue from efficiency to wheth~ values can
ever be excluded from "factu~ , decl.sions. " Simon, itt his
critique~ chided Wa1do fmamst.e@'e~~enting what he had acwtilly
said in AamiJfistrative Beliavior. Nowhere~ says Shnon, dla he
talk shout factual dec;i.sions'' or t•v:alne deCl$lCillB;'' Tather. he
took pains to distinguish .fact:uaJ·IUid ,alne judgments_ (Simein,
1952:_494-495). Waldo. in turn, concedes his error a.tid offem
apofogy.. out adds tbat,lrom the·vieyt.pomt of•JrlS own rirgument.
hedoubts.t;patthe distinction ·--· is -m ore than a quibble~· (Waldo,
1952a:503).
. Simon is clear throughout Chapter 3 tliat"·both fa~ ~and
value elements are ~involved in both administrative and .policy
decisions and that he "is simply intending. to draw an ana1.Ytical
.di~ction between fact and value. Suc.!l .a distin~on is
necessary in order not only for the concept of efficiency to make
Sense, but also to establish the logical basiS 'fur the · idea of
political accountability of administratOrs to their political
superiors. Both effici~ncy and accountability, at least in their
generally accepted meanings, depend. fundamentally on 80Ille
sort of distiriction ·b~tweeii: me~ B:Dd 'v8Iu-es (~ans ana ends),
whiclJ. at a purely anaiyticalleve1Waldo1 himseH, does not.ieally
dispute. Waldo app~ not to give Simon sufficient cr~ for
honoring the difference between analytical ~d ~-world
distinctions and conveys an incorrect impression of Simon as a
defender of a naive and literal-minded version of the dichotomy ·

56
 t!B]SCOREI

between policy · and admmistr?otion~ .. Thn:nigh ·an ill~advised .

. ·f~tnote on Simon, .Wrudo· thus deflected ..~ttention '. from .his
broader argmp.erit ·at.>Ouf th·e· r~le· of: dei?~cFattc. the"ocy -~ _pu~lic
adri:linist:Tation and llie difficUlties of grou~d ing ' a hscien"ce··· "6f
admihistmtion in the ronce_P.t..of e"ffieiend~·, ··
·. · ~~t. conte~t me~~ly to co"rr~ W,.al~~-·fo~. his ·mi,sattributi.ons,
-si:n:ionla~ehed. -~· fu.il-seaie:_rhetorical·as·sautt: r# his:-oV0l ·agiil~~t ·
Waldo's brond.of_philosophi.zipg7 ~-it he. Bcc~se,s W~d.o .o~ no~ :
definjng his ~nns; not•setting forth liis p~~mises in syste~a.tic
1orm.1 and for .~using Simon difficulty in · 'reconstructing the
syllogisms by which (he presumes] he [VIaldo] reached his
conclusions,. (S~on, 1952:494)_ Mo:re gene-qilly, Simon .see.s
Waldn's article as yet another example of ·'the kind of prose I
ent:.9~ter in ·~gs on politi~ theory, l which arel decorated
wit]:l .~QQ, inv~ctive and. m~phor • (lb id.} and follows -with
~· bdef le~~ on t~~---~~olqgy. methods, and logical propf in
o~er--t tp.· ~~-.. wtu..ao
~.JQr conflliling ud~isions·: with
·1~wen~/· · ~1~ i~.~.a,.~~bi~ e~piri~ proposition... Simo.n
~~the i~~- ·by~=s~ytpg uthnt a ::pQsitivist..w:ould -rather b~
broken on th'ereck -Ut~ admit th~ the~e are 'value decisions'
and ·~ d"~9DS;-ii·'[1bij.·.~~95)_ SimC?n then concludes his
rebu,ttal on 8 ~ore general_; but equally ascerbic, note IJb.id.):

Quit& apart from wh.ethf_!r Mr. Waldo' a premi:5& are. right or -n·rong. I do
not~ how :,;re can pro.graaa in polltieal phllosoph:y if wa continue to tbinlt
and Wrlt.e bithe ~e,liteniry, ID~ho.rical ·ti~le that be emd moSt other
"}>Oliiieal the.orizlta adopl.. Th&· atandud of unrigor that js toletated in
po~ _thool")': vv~nOt ~oive.o p~!ling grad& in the elem~ntary ccu~
u f \QCic,· Amtot"helliin i1r oym~lic. -

Notto be outdone in purple prose,. Waldo begins his ~ounter­

ettack as follows (Waldo, 1952a:50l):

~Simon cher('l5 tll6-~iQlprofeuiliig th~ ·a<l.c~ed pl8cea of l.o~

. ~. ~if· f sin '~ 1 ha:'"" l v~ 'tiilii '~_re of '~$ecb b~~ae .
:~.~lm.on ~lo-biHQtur8" indivkblal ~ our Hetllar~~ ·Iii ni.!ID
. of~ fa!~. H_ts,~n~!fl ~ ~Q).I~ &lld· mcuaiv-e. Hie tolonttiwi" of
~·Qd alii-~· bn. 1'1;::• Illiacl 'tc;'Tlf~li.ttan i.i ~~ht; ll&!';oW. O!l~·~:m.}',
edprtYdcly-o...raed. \Vs .Jnu.t·1nsmJ)~ eon.fuss;~.r_ ~i?~~ ..~~--~e Word,
•-bl)~p~,iu.~~B~o~C~Ii&b"d.Ay"t!r. T~\'l a ~ he·lllJ'&, we will no
~be .. eacm~" .

57
 [CISCO REI

cktting down .to the su~.stan~e of theii- disagreement, Waldo

expands ori his earlier charge that Simon's 'impartant contribu-
. tioilB ·ow~ little to ·hls·.logicai; ·positivist .methOdology.. .Waldo.·
(l952b:·5~) expla.i.Q.s that, while Simon•s concllisions :x;nay be
Ct?Jlsis.~entwith l~gic~i·l>o$iti~, they~ also-·~~twiih
phuos6phers :.o f vety . different stripes · as well, . includiilg-."th.e".
. . .•'philosophical · ide{llistst whose Vf~ry · shadow wonld make
·.·Professor·shriori ;fejr.::Uncl~aD.~·· Behiila,·ihis is Waldo's. more ·
general irritation with Simon's apparent insistence on locating
the entire study of public administration·witbiJi what-iscto :W8.ldo
an excessively narrow ftam~work: .o f logical positiviSm, which
prompts him--to· adVise .that··Simon: r~should· spend ·more ..time
studying traditional politicaltheocy and,less•time:with his lo~c
books~· · Ub~-). So, where Simon aceuses, Waldo of ·-logical
unrigor., Waldo charges Simon With ·pbilosopliical•myopia:..
Waldo also .. takes- Simon .-to~- tiuik -for- .,his contention that
d~deriltie institutions :=are ·plincipally'·jUstified as· means for
valid,atiiig-Va!-qe ju'dgmenis.- ·w tddo :noteS· t{ui.t ,;tHis .~ 'Simon~s
firSt mention -of detnocracy'in:A~instrativeBehaviOi'lUid~tbat,
in'tbeo:coii~:pf S~bn~~s~oyethliargument,::~~d~octat.ic'l6ses
siiy Sigtiiffclqlce .... because .all.; politlCi,i.i ~.ons ~ to
validate Valu~~udg!Iients~:i (llikt~)} and even then onJy- :proVlded
-thatwe a~pt'theJ~ t;md·':\in~lained ~se':in~lfieli.:Simon
U,.Se3-t he w~rd ,. ·v-auaate·E!t: W8IC:'fu .argue.sJtlia'~fQ~~eY~'<Yam~·is
not the same thing as vtiliBatmg:~ WhiCh leaveirsfiW.~IV1!d -
the questfun of how valuefl. including those~Boruea~.:ift-1•the
notion of politiCal democra~·· are legitimated.. _
~view of the nature ofhiSprojectm'i4d1nilliStl'tiiive Behav.iOr.
however, shlion ap~ to· be guilty of:, at 'm ostt imprecise
' language when he'"'say-s that :values Bl'e ..~ ~vaUdated by httiruin
fiat.•• 'l n the con~xt of biB armnnent. thlS·~·pm.lise .iS~-sntely
intended ironiCally·~ ·mean· that values, with the exception of
the ·~mtermediate!' · value · of efficiency; cannot be validated.
Ultimate. or fin8.1 value8; at .least, ·,are ~ply to be Wten as
givens, bnt ought-~ ~e-mterest:of~-Bdmhrlstrati!e responsibi-
lity~d efficiency"-1o''ba separated1nsofar as .is practical from
questions·of ;fact. Sim.Qn~s oCca!nonal references to ·d~.
therefore, are largely periphend in his broader argument smee
_ hjs views on admini.slXative respoliSibility wouia, 1~.

58
 [CB]SCOREI

apply tO any,- p_olip~system, ,d~J:llQ(!ratic or no_t, thjit p~fesses a·

heierarcJiiciil C;listjnCti.Oii'."heiwee·n
- . ·and-.admjnistration. At
·policY,
..
~m Y'{~do~s-~ll~-!?~.IP"~em~~tJs,"f?~~c! on -his 9~lie(th~t w~~t
Simon ~~:-tO re~d: as a .peripheral. issu~; 'i.e.'c.,. democratic
theory,. ·is _.~e ~~ntr.ai: issue fqr
~tmtion:. · ' ·. -
·the.
$ld:y· -of. p1,1bli~ ·-ad.nrlniS.,. -
. . .

·,-:'J'HE.~E~THOFTlJEDEBA-TE·

Althopgh .~o~ :futther exchanges between Simon and~ Waldo

appear,ed 'ip, .~'P..$.1~, W~do~ . whose disciplinary -~ation
remajn~·-.-wi~h PU~~..-~,dm.fuj:=!~atiQ~h con~u.ed to ~il_B,mpion
,ppliti~ -p1ij)P:$'9-J14Yi~,P~,gmtr~ .. ~9~e·- in. the fi~d as wen as. to
trltjcize lQgiq~ ' h~iit;!~m ~d the emexging. ''be~-rloral
revolntion7;· ~®ctal!scieJl~i~oY.~tnents that.he saw as.se~g
toundeimin~th:etdetnocratie.normative foundations of the 'field.
Ji'W.mdo.~s:~~tt~cntiC.al oonunen~e~. s~9.~ .iB- ~QI.!~Y
:.ta,rget~. ·but¥. oniy m· the: context . of br~a.ae;_ -isSn_~ ·~ l~~
,.~~~ch Eor ·hi~· p~,- ~nnon•s acade1!li~ ~dt3.~tjij~~pn
,-gJ:@d.tt~lbr ~d from . public adminis~ijon.. ~,:_-~~~pc
oi~!za~iptJ theow, g~QJ.l· thep:ry:, and econotnics~S!J~ ill~
W~"~~. ~ectly at EU)Y, -~. ~.)fey figpre ~ p:u.~\ic; ·B,~J.!.'i~j~­
t;i9,*~-~~ ~tql!f.!nuins; :q~est for ~ ~~J1.ectual ' ~en~!- ~4.,P(~t-Jle ~
tw.Q~.:~Il}y.,Waldo has in-his x~_r¢.- writ!ngs [6) r~fiecled the on
isSP.~·tl:J.at-had:nearlie:r givjrl~- the .t.wo .
..¥,~. of WBido~s iater.-wrltings -~hat ~hear on the debate w.i'th
Sim~ f6cuses-ou,.the inlluence· and,,.,tp. Wflld.Q.. th~ ~ilities of
-lp_tieal-pomtiYisin; iUJ~~-cotQ.pi:'~h~iv.e theor~tical fuundation for
-~ve.atudy-. _Dur:Utg the A.:PSR excf.a~g~jtseH. W~do-
. does~not;11lldeitake "a,serloll8 ·.critiq:9e of loiD~P..ositi~~p_er
6f!.., Jimitihg.hhnaeU in.Ste.a:d~ c::OJIUI'leli~ on~~~J]~~ re_~d~:as
. itsJimited_value"and n~:wnes_s.,of,~e, ~~Y as evident
.in.~S~on~s.-:use.,otJt ,in..AdminUftr.rmve ..Beh'a.p'wr,:: .Thr.ee.y~ar~ - ·
later~ WaJ.AiQ;~pr~~~~4 ~ ~:-,more .:extensivE) ~d. dispassionate . .
critique of>logiciil iJ9~iti~·•. n-ot ·.mamly ·on:lo~al epi$texno-
,J!?gic.al ,groun&t.;_ -but~, .rathe.r on the ~~ and
~ofal
'Consequences._·that <:d~Iive. _fr.qJ:ll uldn& it seriously in public
- _i_r_r~...:- r .?l .,., -
~~D· lt-\1 · -. .-- . .
If · th~ mb~~quent· d~mise_. of logi~ positivism as a. formal .

59
 @HSCOREI

philosophy can ·be subm,itted ~ eviQen~e~. then _Waldo may; in

retros~. -have '~wor)'' that ,·point in his. deb.S.te with Sipiol1.-
Hl)wever ~- tlieiliflti.ence ·o f Adm.inistr{zti~e .BehO,vior is attribut- _
as
able;' this 'author·sugg~d ~tier' z:Qore to its''tt-m±non -5-e.nse
appeai 't han t0 Simon's·expli~tiori of its _philosophlcai fdiuid.a-
-tions.·· It should be· remembered, .too~ that Simon's book, ·as_
w~~fo lias noted.;· w~- 'fla~clie4 o~- ~- risnig u4·~ -;-. csro~_~cf
Sti.lJ.man,: 1986~37), namely~ the ..tide :of beha,vioraijsp1 ,-Bl)~
empiricism then flooding .an. of the ·s ocial sciences. ~ally,
Simon, while anything ~ut a:public administration ~tionalist
in most other regards. had provided via the fa4-value
dichotomy a formal epistemologieal basis for a tizne-hQn.ored
conception of the. proper--which iS to say subordinate ~d
prim¢Iy technical-role of. administration in democraqc
government.
At the same -t ime, other intellectual currents in public
administration·.were thett>running against Simon, althoug~ .not
nece5sarily- in Waldn~s favor-. T-h~ ,emergj.ng ••finreaucratic
politics'' literature conVincingly .des¢i:~_ed :.. ~the. ·inh~reJ::ltq
politicalcharacter of administratj.on,- _one;·.C9ri~~q~ence of which
•t
was to.re.veal, -t9 some l~ty. Sifu.on~s fonnall()gic,as bel:tJg,of
marginal practical value_. WJrlle: D)o$', w:r;:it~ta Qn bm~aueratie
politics impllcitly xeinfon.:ed Waldo~s etm>irical OP~-~rvaijon;s pn
the -political nature of ~ti.Q~. their ·~lllPirt~l,.in,~,I'~
by and large lectthento-1>~ :~~11ninterest¢d~M $j.nip~_,was;~,the
more broadly philosopl:Qcm concerns·th~t-Waldo _s~w :~~lying at
the core of public a~tion~dy,.~:£8.) - · ~
Since The A~ininistrative. ·State,. ,WaJdo~~- ,.central role in
academic public administration bas.-,been, that. qf .ch~pion of
moral-philosophical .con:cenis, rather than ~c!vo~~ pf a
particular theoreticaLor pirllos6phicai· position,. In· yirtu~y .all
his published works and in his other .a ctivities, Waldo has
.broadened tQ€!1: arena.,of~.dis®ms.e. in ..the.. fi~ld-;b,,ey_ond-..~wen­
. tionalbounds; poa~d,:qne¢it:m&- mid:dil~~~$;,w,ith w~,PHJ>lic
- administtation,ahould~tend,·-~d' synth~sized.peri~~ -~e
state=of the 'field~ a struggle. with them. ·~s.a . con~eq-u~n,<;~•. pis
influence upon . public -administration lias·: been of a wh~~y
different sort. -~d one less eas_ily "d~ulp.ent~. than ~~9n·s~
Simon single-min_dedly. pressed his p~mi.Ses --~ what~~. saw

60
 [$]SCORE!

as their logical concl,~ons and in the pr·xess carved out a more

e9h~re~ . and identifiable intellectual ~~!::!t~~n .than did Waldo.
Simon thus ~ttracled .foliowers in a way that waldo did not.
·Waldo's .infbi~:nce ~ no.t and will not· be ·r:;'vident_in a reeoWuz-- ·
able- IBbel with. whicil 'tci ..classify hi~ . thmkin.g , nor in ·the
~ergen~ of a ~ew generation of sch;._'i_lars known. as ''neG-"
waldo~s:h Yet, ..throughhiSeditor8h1i; ofthePitblic Adminis-·
his
tra.tW.1lJle'l.!ic.~. ~ponso~p Qf the Minnowbrook Coriference
o~ the New.:Fuvlic Adminis~~n: d~g· i 968, ~dthr~~gh:th~
content of his writings, Waldo~s legacy is continually evident in
the substance of public administration's moral and intellectual
agenda.
-Herbert Simon •s influence on public adrainistration has been.
at the same time,. both more tangential and more discernible
tban Waldo•s. It is tangential in the sense that Simon, -·despite
his >early identification with public- administration, was-and
this is -clear as·-eilrly· as. Admiriistrotiue Behaviar--more an
·.6,ganization thoorist :than a public admihistktiOn theorist. .
simon•s-stanees ·r egarding the distinction between policy and
lldministration or administrative responsibility and efficiency.
for ex~ple, derive mainly from the?retical premises_ and
in~~that are generic to organization theory~ which .,i § .tQ say
that they transcend ,the distinctio~ between public ~d- private
:ol'gan:iZations~ Although organimtinn theory- oCcupies :U prom-
inent:position-inpublic adm.ini.Stmtion academic curricUla. PJ.Ost
organizational :x-esearch and theorizing are borrowed- by public
a~on academics from sociology, man,agement science.
and ·business ·adm:ini.stration where~Simon' s · name· is surely tis
pro.Ininent as it:is··i n publie administration. ·
If organization theory·is.a n~ary-ingredien,t··in the study of
publie·administration, then Simon~s influence on the ~tter is, by
extension, easily visible:. Together. With Chester Baniard'" Sim<?n
·.is often acknowledged: ~s--.a.. £9-f.Q~d:~r ~.f rn_od~ ~~on ·
theory.-. -The current m~- .of. o~~Uon ·th~riSts. _·
.· including Sy'.stems·and-:contingency theorists;. must ~nte~d (and--
some in fact· begin') with., the -core ideas of Administrative
BeluWwr even when they do not · always agree fully with ·its
conclusions .. Thejr reservations, h_owevt r, are usually of the
friendly varietY, mildly chlcifug Simon_oT. l)· ·for ~g tO extend

61
 tm1SCOREI

· · his views -far .e nough or to ..see their broader ·sigruficanc~.-

' .. .

.' ·
. . CONCLUSION
. Herbert· Simon·· and ·. Dwlght.. W.aldo p~rsonify r~dically
or
di~erg~t ~e~ mte~ectuil prioritieS for otit. disdpliri~ .. in the
·years after the4" _,exch~ge in _the _American Political S~ence
Review. many of the surlac~ isSUes. as well as -~e vocabUlary'of.
discomse. have changed, but the differing world views they
represented (and still represent) nevertheless xema.in and do ~o
in the sarq.e state of mistrustful coexi$nce ~s before. Sim91l' s
and Wald9' s beliefs about the nature and plirposes of social
science and social -theory embody t in Jurgen ·aabermas' terms.
fundam~ntally different ··· cognitive interests .•• Although each of
these cognitive interests does not neeessarily exclude the other,
beliefs about their importance relative 'to one another will
continue to·.provide
. a so:prce of tension in public
.
admini.stnit:ion
discourse·. Changing academic fashions ,and social priorities
irievitably influence in a profo\md way ~hich 'of these· interests
· and associated world views can claim temporary victory over the
other. ReaPzi_ng that the relative degree of ascendancy of these
interests balances out in the long run, we should prob_a bly
declare the Simon/Waldo de~ate a draw.

62
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Foundation 2020
– Ashutosh Pandey

PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 3

PCT, NPA And NPM

 TOPICS

This booklet consist of the following topics:

1. PUBLIC CHOICE THEORIY...........................................................................1-2

2. NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION.............................................................3-7

3. NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT....................................................................8-16

 Chapter - 1

PUBLIC CHOICE THEORIY

Public choice is an economic theory, of politics as the application of economics to the study of political life,
including public administration. This definition establishes the inter-disciplinary nature of political science and
public administration. This entry into politics is a bold advancement on the part of economics. There are areas
where economic and political forces interact and are naturally fascinating to economics. The concept of public
choice theory in public administration was first mooted in the mid-60s of the twentieth century. Scholars who
played a leading role in the development of public choice theory are Duncan Black, Anthony Downs, Kenneth
Arrow, James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, William Riker and Mancus Olson. Public choice theory is
principally the contribution of economists.
The theory challenges the traditionally established public interest theory of democratic government. Public
interest theory assumes that decision-making in government is motivated, by unselfish benevolence on the part
of elected representatives or full-time government employees. In other words, public interest theory protrays
that public servants are motivated by a desire to maximize society’s welfare. This new is repudiated by the
public choice theory.
The public choice theory-fakes a dim view of career bureaucracy, dubbing it as inefficient and unresponsive.
This is because bureacracy is not subject to market forces.
Choice implies competition. Public choice theory introduces competition into public administration in a bid to
make it more efficient and responsive. Public choice is the advocate of institutionalism and pluralism in the
provision of public goods and services. Existence of multiplicity of public agencies gives individual citizens
their necessary choice. An individual knows his self-interest and would maximize this in his choosing.
An application of public choice theory in public administration is explained in what follows. An individual
must be given choices for buying a car. In other words, the market should have multiple brands of car. An
individual’s choice should be determined by taxation mechanism. Some cars consume less oil and cause less
air pollution; some consume more. An individual enjoys the freedom to buy a limousine but he must pay a
greater price for a limousine, as he must pay more for; air pollution and greater consumption of oil. By taxation
mechanisms we deal with the enemy crisis and problems of pollution. The money thus mopped up can be
utilized for research in order to develop alternatives to conventional sources of energy and to combat pollution
problems. Individuals thus enjoy the freedom to make their choices but they must also be prepared to pay a
higher price in the process. Thus, general citizenry does not have to share the burden of luxuries enjoyed by
some specially-inclined individuals.
Public choice approach has been attributed mostly to William A. Niskanen. Niskanen argues that career
bureaucracy is self-aggrandising and evinces an indefinite capacity for expansion. William Niskanen’s analysis
of the bureaucratic causes of governmental growth are ably analysed in his Bureaucracy and Representative
Government. This work is the forerunner of numerous formal ‘models of bureaus’. In the words of Jonathan
Bendor, `Even today, it is probably the single most cited study’.
It is rather unique work of this nature coming from one trained as an economist. Most studies of bureaucracy
have come from sociologists and political scientists (or public administrationists).
Not unexpectedly, Niskanen applies economic concepts to the problems of design and operation of a bureaucracy
and provides a prescription for radical changes. Niskanen’s central concern is to ensure that bureaucracy

1
provides an optional service. As is to be expected from an economist, the book bristles with data, supply and
demand curves as well as equations.
Niskanen’s contribution marks a kind of revolution in the study of bureaucracy. An economist by profession,
Niskanen studies bureaucracy with the methods of economics and with rewarding results. Disillusionment with
the bureaucracy is universal and social scientists are as a result, engaged in a search for a way out. Can the
responsiveness and efficiency of bureaus be significantlly unproved? Can some public services be efficiently
supplied by other forms of organizations? Can representative government better express our demans for public
services? How? William Niskanen in his book Bureaucracy and Representative Government critcizes the
career bureaucracy on many counts. Civil servant’s attitude towards consumers of their services is different
from the attitude of the private sector’s producer towards his customers. The producer’s revenue comes from
his customer but in government, there is no clear correlation between public revenue and expenditure: the
revenue comes from the finance ministry. Secondly, the civil servant has little incentive to minimize the costs
and maximise profits. In government he does not gain financially from any such transaction.
A bureaucrat, according to William Niskanen is a budget-maximizer. He tries to get maximum budget allocation
for his bureau in order to enhance the salary, perks, power, patronage and public reputation. The bureaucrat’s
budget maximizing behaviour inevitably leads to over-supply of public service to justify expansion of the
bureau, its staff and equipment and also to budget. The bureau’s per unit cost of production is surely to go
up as no incentive system is in operation: the saving of tax-payers’ money is hardly an incentive. According
to Niskanen; the remedy lies in competition within the bureaucracy to ensure better supply of public services.
In order to raise the performance of public services. In order to raise the performance of public bureaucracy
the remedy points more towards private markets where the structure and incentive system exist for the supply
of public services. The monopoly power of the bureaucracy must be reduced by exploring private sources of
supply of public services. Increasing dissatisfaction with the performance of the bureaucracy stands in sharp
contrast to the success of the private sector, which should tilt our inclination towards the latter for supply of
public services. This being the case, Niskanen recommends the following package of reform:
(a) Increase the competition among the bureau for supply of the same or similar public services.
(b) Change in the incentives in the bureaucracy to induce more efficient behavior by senior bureaucrats.
(c) Increase competition to the bureaucracy by greater use of private sources of supply, of public services.
By using a mix of such mechanisms, public bureaucracy would get pruned and become high performing.
Niskanen is of the fine view that ‘a better government would be a smaller government.’
Public choice theory has emerged as a powerful theory in policy-making since the seventies, as it seeks to
impart an altogether new orientation of public administration. It commits itself to market values and is thus
set against monopolies. The market system, one may note, is based on a competitive principle: a customer
enjoys the opportunity of choosing between numerous service providers. The Public choice theory thus abolishes
the monopoly of the government in respect of the supply of public services: it instead introduces the market.
As under the public choice theory, public bureaus will be exposed to competition and there will be a continual
search for improvement in service standards. This promotes also decentralization: as the users have a choice
between competing service suppliers; power is decentralized.

2
 Chapter - 2

NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

New Public Administration is among the more recent entries into the lexicon of public administration and is
inevitably associated with the now famous Minnowbrook deliberations held in the USA in the late sixties and
the late eighties. The central message of this new concept, summed up in relevance, values, social equity and
change, has since become an integral part of the discipline’s vocabulary. ‘New Public Administration’ must be
distinguished from ‘new public administration’, which refers to the writings in public administration from 1946-
60. This distinction is characterised by the following four shifts in emphasis :
• from administrative specialities like purchasing personnel, etc. to programmatic concerns,
• from the chief executive to actual administrative problems,
• from general abstract principles to the specific contexts of individual departments and programmes, and
• from mere goals of efficiency and economy to larger concerns for political values and democratic functioning.
This exploded the mythical belief in politico-administration theory.
In the USA, the sixties was an era of positive government marked by, rapid suburbanisation, construction of
freeways, the growth of schools and hospitals to provide for the baby boom, and so on. The USA had a
dynamic president in John F. Kennedy. But the mood of optimism did not last. The youthful president was
assassinated. By the mid-sixtis. America was overtaken by wide-spread social upheaval. Cities were torn by
riots and many university campuses were unquiet. The country was fighting a war in Vietnam, the forces being
represented mainly by the young and the poor. All-round decline marked the commitment of the Americans
to their institutions-the family, the church, the media, the professions and the government. Respect for parents
and leaders sharply declined.
While all institutions were affected by these disturbances the universities were naturally the most directly hit.
American campuses were hotly debating the great issues of the day. Scholars could hardly afford to remain
insulated. But the social sciences were most directly and losely involved. In social sciences also an interdisciplinary
subject like Public Administration was particularly influenced. As H. George-Frederickson says. “... the
Minnowbrook Conference has had a significant influence on the research agenda; the theory, and the practice
of American Public Administration. While many fields disciplines were changing the 1960s, these clanges do
not seem to have had the lasting effects of changes in Public Administration.” Frederickson asserts. “The
Minnowbrook Conference is an important reason for this lasting influence in Public Administration.”
The Minnowbrook themes that have shaped the future agenda of public administration in the USA maybe
listed as follows :
1. There was a definite shift from a study of administrative practices to a concern for policy issues. As
Frederickson says, “The quality of schooling, the effects of law enforcement, and the quality of the
environment have become units of analysis or policy issues at least as important as administrative or
managerial practices in the schools, the police, or the public works department.” Today public policy has
emerged as an integral and important part of public administration.
2. To the twin goals of classical public administration, namely efficiency and economy, has been added the
third one of social equity. Concern for social equity, in this context, provides the rationale or justification
for policy positions. Ensuring equal protection under law is the concern of both public administrators and
law makers.

3
3. Ethics, honesty and responsibility in public offices have since become part of the governing parameters
of public administration. Administrators do not merely execute decisions given by political masters: they
are viewed as holding public trust to render the best possible public service, its cost and benefit being, fairly
distributed in the society.
4. With change in environment, many public, organisations may have outlived their utility and thus need
to be wound up or even replaced. Creation of new organisations in the future is as imporant as is the
dismanitina of outdated organisations. In other words. cutback management is today equally important.
5. The contemporary challenge before public administration is change m government; not growth in government
Public Administration is increasingly called upon to show responsiveness. This involves among other
things, the creation of new organisations to carry out new programmes and, equally importantly, the
dismantling of existing ones when they have outlived their relevance.
6. Nowadays, one indicator for judging the effectiveness of public administration is the degree of the participation
of the citizenry.
7. New Public Administration does not swear by abstract rationality and the concept of hierarchy. These have
limited practicalutility in the processes of administration.
8. Pluralism is useful for explaining the exercise of public power but cannot be a standard against which
public administration is measured.
Exactly twenty years later-that is, in September 1988-the ‘Second Minnowbrook Conference’ was held. At
the 1987 annual conference of the American Society for Public Administration at Boston, many of those who
had participated in Minnowbrook-1(of 1968) met. They then decided to hold Minnowbrook lI exactly twenty
years af1er, the original onference. All who had attended the first event in 1968 were invited along: with some
others who had entered public administration in the intervening years. Mihnowbrook II was funded by three
universities the Syracuse University the University of Kansas and the University of Akron.
The conference met at the Syracuse University Union on Sunday, 4 September 1 988. The seminarists then
travelled by bus to Minnowbrook. After the Sunday trip, the conferees spent their time until Monday afternoon
(3.00 p.m.) in a plenary session discussing the papers that had been distributed earlier. Respondents distributed
five-page responses and discussed the papers they had agreed to review, then each papers writer was ‘allowed’
a five-to-ten minute reply. The papers had been written but were not formally presented. Monday afternoon and
the whole of Tuesday were spent in group sessions dealing with specific topics such as bureaucracy and
democracy, organisation theory, leadership, and ethics. Eight such groups were formed. On Wednesday, the
conference divided itself into two groups—the 1968and 1988 cohorts-to see if there were common perspectives
within each group and to determine whether there were common differences between the two. They then
reported to each other on their perspectives. A wrap up session was held on Thursday morning. Dwight Waldo
delivered the valedictory address in which he referred to a cynic forecasting the death of public administration.
Waldo disagreed, saying: “Public administrators are going to be around for a long time, so be of good cheer,
and get on with it.”
Minnowbrook II was held not only to facilitate a general examination of the future of public administration
but also to find out the differences between those who had entered public administration-in-the-1960s and the
ones who had done so in the eighties.
Minnowbrook 11 was attended by as many as sixty scholars and practitioners, all belonging to policy sciences
such as history, economics, political science, sociology and public administration. Thirty-five of them entered
the field in the 1980s, and thus belonged to the generation characterised by the then dominant values of private

4
interest. The remaining had taken up the subject in the sixties and were thus influenced by the then prevalent
public purposes, the turbulence of the Vietnam War, urban riots and growing cynicism towards all institutions.
The two conferences showed some notable differences. More gender parity marked the second event than the
first Minnowbrook I was attended by only one woman while the women numbered 14 in the 1988 gathering.
But minority groups were better represented in the first conference than in the second, perhaps because the
discipline was less attractive in the sixties; making it easier for the minorities to enter because competition-was-
less. Another difference worth noting was the higher age group of the participants in Minnowbrook II. The
participants of Minnowbrook I were in their thirties whereas at Minnowbrook II they were past forty or in their
early fifties. This implies that in the 19SOs many of those who entered public administration had already
worked in other disciplines. These people took advantage of higher education in public administration and then
entered the teaching profession. The academic background of the two groups of participants also differed.
While most of the first Minnowbrook participants were educated in political science the second group covered
a larger academic space having been trained in policy analysis, policy studies, economics, planning, urban
studies and law.
The two conferences showed other differences too. The mood, tone and orientations differed. As H. George
Frederickson observes, Mimnowbrook I “was contentious, confrontational and revolutionary” while the event
of twenty years later was “more civil, more practical”. Frederickson continues, “Both Conferences were
theoretical but the 1968 Conference dialogue was decidedly anti-behavioural while the 1988 Conference was
more perceptive to the contributions of the social and behavioural sciences to public administration.”
The two conferences met in different social, political and economic settings, which led them to different
findings and conclusions. Minnowbrook I met in midst of an environment marked by strong cynicism towards
goverment. This cynicism was further deepened and even confirmed by the infamous Watergate Scandal. The
sixties had been a period of positive government in the USA, but before long people began to feel disillusioned
with the state and even became wary of it. The 1988 event took place at a time when there was a growing
demand for retreat of the state. This took various forms such as that of control of bureaucracy and cutting
out of waste and corruption. The positive state was bowing out, yielding place to the regulatory state. This
meant “less government and more governance” in the words Frederickson. The retreat of the state took other
forms as well such as privatisation, contracting out, volunteerism, third party government, and so on. The
importance of public purposes was receding, and was being replaced by the market forces typified by private
interest. Minnowbrook I endorsed affirmative action which did show some successes. But the USA was still
smitten by poverty and unemployment especially in cities and among minoritis.
The discipline of public administrtion registered changes between 1968 and 1988. Its range larger in the
eighties than in the sixties. New academic programmes have been added and new journals in the discipline
launched. Public administration became much more interdisciplinary. What is more, MPA became an accredited
degree and is now increasingly pursued by those seeking a career in public administration. The economic profile
in the USA also changed during the interval. Employment in primary industries showed a decline which
however was compensated by employment in service and information fields. It was also noted that some
geographic areas in the USA flourished while others began to languish, thanks to technological changes. In short
as Frederickson asserts, “the era of growth has been replaced by the era of limits. “As a result, young people
were more job-oriented and less inclined to community service and public altruism. In a nutshell, the concerns
and urges of the eighties were both common and different from those of the sixties. The younger people who
attended the 1988 Conference came from a background and context far different from those of their older
colleagues.

5
Though separated by an interval of twenty years, both groups were concerned about many common areas, such
as ethics, social equity, human relations, and reconciling public administration and democracy. Both the groups
shared concern for the state of the discipline of the public administration. But the 1988 Conference showed
increased sensitivity to themes like leadership, constitutional and legal perspectives, technology, policy and
economic perspective. Between themselves, Minnowbrrok I and II addressed broad issues like democratic
government, equality, ethics and leadership. And they equally dealt with matters of policy, policy analysis,
technology and management.
New Public Administration was wedded to normative concerns and this sought to rescue public administration
from its on-going technical or technocratic emphasis. Its govering norms are change, relevance, ethics (or values)
and equity. This was a welcome rescuing operation. At the same time, New Public Administration did nor
remain uncriticised. By talking about social equity, it de-emphasised efficiency and economy, which is patently
unjust to the tax payer who wants full value for this money. Particularly stringent if Victor A. Thompson’s
criticism of New Public Administration. He argues that public service is professional, impersonal and equal for
the simple reason that its instrumentality, namely organization, is consciously designed for goal accomplishment.
A client is not a historical person: he is part of a problem category. As a heart patient, the client is a cardiac
case and should be treated as such. The whole approach is impersonal, which necessitates expert solution of
the problem. Emotions must not interface with the application of the specialist’s export knowledge. Victor A.
Thompson has propounded these views of New Public Administration in his work. Without Sympathy or
Enthusiasm: The problem of Administrative Compassion (1975).
Blackburg Perspective
The Minnowbrook perspective was content with the commitment of individual administrators to such values.
The Minnowbrook perspective did not go beyond the individual commitments. The real challenge lies in
institutionalization of these values. As Gary L. Wamsley rightly observes: ‘Humans are social creatures: we
live, work, quarrel, construct reality and attribute meaning, cooperate, and act purposively in social constructs.
We are of the opinion that individuals to bring about social change is, to put it diplomatically, unrealistic’,
Human beings do not act as isolated individuals. We must change the individual human beings. Their perceptions
attitude, behavior etc. but at the same time we must change the social structures and institutions. Institutions
must also be suitably structured to reflect and recognise these newer values and economics.’
This approach calling for institutionalisation is called the Blacksburg Perspective. As Gary L. Wamsley remarks:
‘The Blacksburg Perspective differs from that of Minnowbrook in a crucial aspect: the recognition of the need
to work to change values and to bring about social change from both ends of the structural individual continuum.
If, however one must choose, as structuralists or neo-institutionalists, we would throw our efforts into improving
(the)... society and bringing about non-violent social change by means of improving and changing the social
constructs by which we seek to govern ourselves’. (Gary L. Wamsley and others Refounding Public
Administration, Sage, 1990, p.21).
The Blacksburg Perspective is certainly related to the Minnowbrook Perspective but it broadens; Minnowbrook
sphere of concerns because of its emphatic demand for institutionalisation of these values, it is called
Minnowbrook I with institutiolial grounding’.
The Blacksburg manifesto; refers to the paper entitled ‘The Public Administration and the Governance Process:
Shifting the American Political Dialogue which Gary Wamsley, Charles Goodsell-John Rohr. Camilla Stivers.
Orion White and James Wolf wrote in the mid eighties.
The Blacksburg Manifesto by Wambsley and his associates bases its argument on the inviogorating critical
principle of public administration: the distinctive nature of public administration lies in the fact that... it is

6
defined in large part as competence directed towards the public interest’. Public interest thus, is the directing
principle in public administration.
Public administration must, therefore. consistently uphold the subject of democratic public interest. In U.S.A.
public interest is defined by the Founding Fathers in India, public interest must necessarily be defined by the
debates in the Constituent Assembly of India, the Preamble, the Fundamental rights, the Directive Principles
of State policy of the Constitution Administrative actions at the Fall levels of governance must be activated
by high moral-intentions. The governing dictum of administrative reform is public interest. It thus follows that
attempts towards improving efficiency in public administration must necessarily be enlivened with public
interest. To put it in other words, legitimacy of public administration must be more than legal’.

7
 Chapter - 3

NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

Changing Situation
Positive government received a serious set back in the seventies, caused primarily by economic crisis as well
as the dismantling of the Soviet bloc. The disenchantment remained unmonitored in India and become explicit
only in the nineties. The collapse of Communism in Soviet Union exposed the unsoundness of the ‘command
and control’ system of a country’s economic management. The economic crisised to a reduced flow of funds
to the public sector. The growing fiscal deficit most developing nations have faced since the 1980s forced them
to borrow to raise revenue for government, which in return created time problem of indebtedness for mein.
The resultant economic worries forced public policy planners to think about new possibilities and chart out
managerial strategies, which were already applied successfully in the private sector and carried the promise of
better results through the use of fewer resources. Globalisation was seen as a solution to the economic crisis
and it posed a threat to, the existing centralised bureaucracies. Globalisation, briefly, refers to the growing
interdependence among nations compelling the-sorting out of economic, social; environmental and human
rights issues at the international level It is based on the acceptance of the market forces. Which intensifies
international competition. It has tended: to curtail and restrict individual sovereignties. As a recent Commonwealth
Secretarait publication observes, ‘national interests have to be advanced-through negotiation with other states,
both bilaterally and through a complex network of trans-national institutions Globalisation also compels
reconciliation of global imperatives with local needs and requirements.
Support by Academics
Around the late 60s, the bureaucracy received a lot of criticism from economists like Gordon Tullock; Anthony
Downs, William Niskanen etc. These scholars strongly advocated the market as an efficient alternative to
bureaucracy and paved the way for the emergence of what has come to be known as New Public Management
in public administration. In his work The Politics of Bureaucracy, published in 1965. Gordon Tullock propounds
the principal thesis that bureaucrats are motivated primarily by selfishness. A bureaucrats is motivated by the
desire to enhance promotion prospects and what is known as public interest is relegated to the periphery. The
bureaucrats’ pursuit of promotion, which provides them access to political power and enhanced physical
comfort, depends on their capacity to please their superiors. Consequently at the top of the organisation there
is a concentration of officers who are self-servers and self-seekers whose motivation to contribute to formal
organisational goals is suspect. A t the root of this inefficiency lies the fact that bureaucrats are not subject
to the disciplining influence of competition Gordon Tullock observes: ‘Government agencies can follow inefficient
policies for very 1ong period without being eliminated. The official is much less subject to pressure for
efficiency than is the normal business manager. To the individual official, efficiency is meaningful not um terms
of the organisation’s goals, but in terms of his own’Tullock concludes.
‘Much of the modern bureaucracy is simply a mistake... continuing features of bureaucracy are met in part
by continuing reorganisations...; In part, the failures are met by concealed shifts in the objectives of the
organisation... The government bureau becomes the permanent fixtures, with the objectives continually changing.
Over-time, the vested interests of the bureaucrats themseles become more and more important in justifying the
organisation.
Anthony Downs in another scholar who indicts the bureaucracy. His Inside Bureaucracy, published in 1967,
demonstrates that bureaucracies are motivated by survival instincts and thus bureaucrats act in their own self-
interests. Anthony Downs classifies the bureaucrats into five basic types: (1) climbers, (2) conservers, (3)

8
zealots, (4) advocates and (5) statesmen. Each category possesses certain traits. ‘Climbers’ consider power,
income and prestige as all important in their value system. Conservers place great value on convenience and
security. In contrast to climbers, conservers seek merely to retain the amount of power, income and prestige
they already have, rather than maximize them. Zealots are loyal to relatively narrow policies or concepts such
as the development of nucleas which they are loyal. The fourth category of bureaucrats, namely advocates are
loyal to a broader set of functions or to a broader organisation than zealots. They also seek power because they
want to exercise significant influence policies and actions associated with the concerned functions or; organisations.
Statesmen are loyal to society as a whole. They desire power in order to have significant influence upon national
policies and actions. They questions as can the responsiveness and efficiency are altruistic since their loyalty
is to general welfare. Statesmen thus resemble the classical bureaucrats of the textbooks.
The central thesis of Anthony Downs is that a bureaucrat is motivated b self-interest even when acting in a
purely official capacity. In business administration an individual self-Interest is checked and diluted by the fear
of loss of sales and declining profit. But in public administration, the self-interest of the public bureaucracy
is unrestrained by an absence of market discipline. The absence of a competitive environment means that
bureaucratic behaviour is primarily determined by consideration of power, prestige, money, security and
convenience. Anthony Downs develops from this his Law of Self-Servicing Loyalty by which he means that
all officials exhibit relative strong loyalty-to the organisation when job security and promotion is at stake. To
serve self-interest of the bureaucrats abstract bureau-ideology, even when it undergoes a change, maintains or
expands its scale of activities., as the top-level officials utmost concern of is to justify the present size of the
bureau.
The severest criticism of bureaucracy had come from William Niskanen, an economist by training. Most
studies of bureaucracy have been by sociologists and political scientists (or public administrationists). Niskanen’s
Bureaucracy and Representative Government is a rather unique work where economic concepts are applied
to the problems of design and operation of a bureaucracy and are provided a prescription for radical changes.
Niskanen’s central concern.is to ensure that bureaucracy provides optimum service. As is to be expected from
an economist, the book bristles with data and supply and demand curves as well as equations.
As already discussed in the earlier chapter, Niskanen’s contribution marks a kind of revolution in the study of
bureaucracy. He studies important questions as can the responsiveness and efficiency of bureaus be significantly
improved? Can some public services be efficiently supplied by other forms of organisations? Can representative
government better express our demands for public services? How? Bureaucracy and Representative Government
criticizes the career bureaucracy on many counts. Civil servants’ attitude towards the consumers of their
services is different from the attitude of private sector’s producer to his customers. The producer’s revenue
comes from his customer but in government there is no clear correlation between public revenue and expenditure;
the revenue comes from the finance ministry. Secondly, civil servant has little incentive to minimize costs and
maximize profits. In government he does not gain financially from any such transaction.
A bureaucrat according to William Niskanen is a budget-maximises: He tries to get maximum budget allocations
for his bureau in order to enhance salary, perks, power, patronage and public reputation. The bureaucrat’s budget
maximizing behaviour inevitably leads to oversupply of public service to justify expansion of the bureau its
staff and equipment. The bureau’s per-unit cost of production is surely to go up as no incentive system is in
operation the saving of the tax-payers’ money is hardly an incentive. Niskanen advocates competition within
the bureaucracy to ensure better supply of public services. The monopoly power of the bureaucracy must be
reduced by exploring private sources of supply of public services. The increasing dissatisfaction with the
performance of bureaucracy stands in sharp contrast to the success of the private sector, which should tilt our
inclination towards private sector for the supply of public services. This being the case, Niskanen recommends
the following package of reform :

9
(a) Increase the competition among the bureau for the supply of the same or similar public services.
(b) Change in the incentives in the bureaucracy to induce more efficient behaviour by the senior bureaucrats.
(c) Increase the competition to the bureaucracy by greater use of private sources of supply of public services.
A mix of such mechanisms the public bureaucracy would the bureaucracy prune and enhance its performance.
Niskanen is of the firm view that ‘a better government would be a smaller government.
The argument of the economists is ‘badly flawed’ according to Herbert Simon. He asserts that the over-riding
motivation behind human behavour is self-interest. Simon, argues, that human beings are motivated, not in
terms of self-interest but in terns of the perceived interest of the groups, families, organisations; ethnic groups
and nation states. The new god-privatization,-cannot be uncritically accepted. That privatisation always increases
efficiency and productivity- is questionable. Empirical researchers-do not confirm that private organisation are
always more efficient than public organisation or vice versa. What is important is to remember that organisations
are not enemy. As Herbert Simon asserts, organisations are the most effective tools that humans have found
for meeting human needs. But for their effectiveness to grow we need, at all levels of talents, the kind of
commitment, the sense of responsibility, and the organisational identification that we see in the careers of Don
Stone and the myriads of others who-have devoted their lives to public service.
Emergence of New Public Management and Its Definition
By the end of the seventies the new changes and concepts began to acquire a coherent shape in public
administration. The challenge to Weberian bureaucracy assumed a number of names. The commonly used
terms are managerial sin (Pollitt 1990), ‘New Public Management’ (Lan and Rosenbloom 1992) and
‘Enterpreneurial Government’ (Osborne and Gaebler 1992). The new buzz words are downsizing, resource
squeeze, cut back management, effectiveness, efficiency, economy, privatisation, outsourcing, marketisation,
quasi-markets, surrogate markets, new public management, contractulisation, customerisation, automisation,
agencification etc. A whole array of methods and techniques employed to reform public administation since
the early 1980s is given the broad label of New Public Management (NPM). According to Richard Common,
New Public Management (NPM) is used to describe a vast range of contemporary administrative changes.’
NPM has become a very popular concept, its secret lies ‘in its appeal as an attractive solution to the problems
of big and inefficient government. The term ‘New Public Management’ was coined by Chistropher Hood in
1991 and used in his paper on ‘A Public Management for All Seasons’, published in Public Administration..
Another notable contribution in the development of NPM.was made by Gerald Caiden. Other notable scholars
who have contributed to NPM are P. Hoggett, C. Pollitt, R. Rhodes, R.M. Kelly. P. Aucoin, L. Terry, etc.
Public Choice Theory
New Public Management is a mercantile approach to public administration, hinges on public choice theory and
managerialism, it thus reposes its belief in the primacy of the market and in private sector management. Public
choice theory has resonances with the Neo Right movement or neo-liberalisnn. Market model the dominant
model of governance in the NPM schema, introduces competitive elements into public administration, with
marketisation, privatisation, and down-sizing being its key features. The latest strategy of administrative reform
is gaining acceptance around the world, New Public Management institutionalises the old ideology of liberalism
now under the name of neo-liberalism, believing ‘that government is the best which rules the least’ thus
supporting the unqualified superiority of the market over the state. This is nothing short of a paradigm shift:
the space vacated by the shrinking of the public bureaucracy is to be occupied by the market. The two defining
pillars of New Public Management are thus public choice theory and Neo-Tavlorism. New Public
Administration must be viewed in this larger perspective. More than anything else, it marks an aggressively
managerial approach in public administration and may thus be seen as a direct denunciation of the traditional

10
model of public administration expounded by Max Weber. It therefore follows that NPM is anti-bureaucratic.
David Osborne and Ted Gaebler regard bureaucracies as redundant in the present age. They assert: they
simply do not function well in the rapidly changing, information-rich; knowledge-intensive society and economy
of the 1990s’.
Vincent Ostrom asserts the bureaucracy is chronically incapable of organising public goods and services. He
observes: ‘Bureaucratic structures are necessary but not sufficient structures for a productive and responsive
public service economy’. Ostrom favours the individual as the unit of analysis and supports the public choice
theory.
To sum up, public choice theory has exercised a powerful influence upon policy-making since the seventies
since it seeks to impart an altogether new orientation to public administration. It commits itself to market
values and thus abolishes the monopoly of the government in re poet of the supply of public services; it
instead introduces the principle of competition. As the public bureaus are exposed to competition there, is a
continuous search for improvement in service standards. Moreover as service users get the option of choosing
between competing service suppliers power is decentralised. NPM borrows the processes of business management
and applies them to public administration. New Public Management is thus dressed up in the language of
management, referring as it does to the methods and techniques imported from the commercial sector. It is
characterised by three powerful features: business-like management, service and client orientation and market-
type mechanism such as competition.
The following ten principles advocated by Osborne and Gaebler in their book “Reinventing Government”.
“How the entrepreneurial spirit is transforming the public sector” can be a road map in designing a government
on the broad principles of New Public Management:
• Catalytic government which is based on steering rather than rowing
• Community-owned government which believes in enpowering rather than serving
• Competitive-government which injects competition into service delivery
• Mission-driven government which transforms rule driven organizations
• Result-oriented government which believes in funding outcomes not inputs
• Customer-driven government which believes in meeting the needs of the customer and not the bureaucracy
• Enterprising-government which believes in earning rather than spending
• Anticipatory-government which believes in prevention better than cure
• Decentralised-government which works through participation and teamwork
• Market-oriented government which believes in leveraging change through the market
Osborne and Gaebler’s Re-inventing government entered in the United States Government via Al Gore’s
Report of the National Performance Review (NPR) (1993). The IN PR is the outcome of an in-depth six-
month study of the U.S. Federal bureaucracy carried out by 250 public employees under the leadership of the
then American Vice-President Al Gore. It prescribes a ten point programme for promoting entrepreneurialism
in government. These are:
1. Government must promote competition between service-providers.
2. It must empower citizens by pushing control out of the bureaucracy into the community.

11
3. It must measure the performance of their agencies focusing on outcomes not on inputs.
4. It must be motivated by goals, not by rules and regulations.
5. It redefines its clients as customers and offers them choices.
6. It must prevent problems before they emerge, rather than simply offer them services afterwards.
7. It must direct its energy towards earning money and not simply on spending it.
8. It must decentralize authority and promote participative management.
9. It must prefer market mechanisms to bureaucratic mechanisms.
10. It must focus on providing public services but on catalyzing all sectors in the society-public, private,
voluntary-into action to solve the community problems.
The Major Elements of New Public Management according to Christopher Hood are as follows:
1. Emphasis on professional management in the public sector (a new reference for public administration)
2. Emulation of private sector management style
3. Shift to competition, the motivation being to cut costs and raise standards of service and product.
4. Emphasis on standard setting, performance measurement and target setting
5. Increased concern for output controls 1 inked to resource allocation.
6. Discipline and economy in resource use
7. Disaggregation or unbundling of earlier monolithic units into provider’ producer functions and the introduction
of contraction a
New Public Management has the following central doctrines: a focus on management not policy and on
performance appraisal and efficiency; the disaggregation of public bureaucracies into agencies which deal with
each other on a user-pay basis; the use of quasi-markets and contracting out to foster competition; cost-cutting;
and a style of management which emphasises, amongst other things, output targets, limited term targets,
monetary incentives and freedom to manage.
It has the following other driving paradigms :
1. Developing authority, providing flexibility.
2. Ensuring performance control and accountability.
3. Developing competition and choice.
4. Providing responsive service.
5. Improving the management of human resources.
6. Optimizing information technology.
7. Improving the quality of regulation.
8. Strengthening steering functions of the centre.

12
In other words the distinguishing criteria of this, concept may be summarized as follows :
1. Emphasis on the adoption of pm ate sector managerial practice in public administration.
2. Promotion of competition within the public sector.
3. Greater use of contract arrangements within government as well as outside it.
4. Emphasis on results rather than procedures.
5. Formulation of explicit standards and measures of performance.
6. Emphasis on disaggregation of administrative units.
7. A shift away from policy to management.
8. Encouragement to parsimony in public expenditure.
‘New Public Management’ isresult-oriented and objective focussed. It believes in flexible arrangements in
organisation personnel, terms and conditions of employment and so on. It seeks a clearer definition of
organisational and personal objectives. Personnel performance should be measured strictly in these terms. Such
management is prescriptive and descriptive. Its driving mottos are ‘three Es’ - economy, efficiency and effectiveness
(the words used by Christopher Pollitt (1990). Some other features also mark new Public Management. It
advocates pruning the public bureaucracy and reduction in the function of the modem State. It. thus believes
in privatisation. Secondly, it believes in the separation of ‘steering’ from rowing’ and thus the nature of the
governmental involvement in societal affairs undergoes a pro-found change.
Critique of New Public Management
The demand for reform of the traditional public-administration first originated in countries with the Organisation
for Economic. Cooperation and Development (OECD) but later spread to other countries. To sum up, the
defining attributes of new public management are three-localization, externalization, and debureaucratisation.
Localisation refers to the inclination towards devolution and deconcentration. Power is relocated to the lower
levels of governance. The importance attached to lower levels promotes physical proximity to the actual users
of services and thus promotes both answer abilty and quality.
Externalisation refers to contracting out of governmental functions to non-governmental agencies. In the
process the government releases itself from the task of action execution and is thus enabled to concentrate on
policy making. The device of contracting out has its advantages. Governmental monopoly is dispensed with
and replaced by private sector competing service-providers. The resultant competition provides choices, raises
quality and establishes consumer sovereignty.
The Third attribute of public management, debureaucratisation, has multiple naunces, entailing delayering,
downsizing, decentralisation, splitting of a hierarchy or an organisation into internally more autonomous units,
empowerment of the delivery system etc. Delayering emphasises the desirability of a flatter organisation.
Decentralisation enhances the importance of lower levels of an organisation. Downsizing refers to pruning the
public bureaucracy so that it sheds the dead wood gathered over the years. Debureaucratisation demands
cutting down red-tape and lays stress on the simplication of procedures. Debureaucratisation calls for attitudinal
change in an organisation: an attitude like ‘may I help you?’ is to replace the characteristic governmental
reaction ‘I could not care less?’ Finally, debureaucratisation implies alternatives to public bureaucracy. This
attribute signifies roll back of the state.
These attributes seck nothing short of a radical departure from the present content and style of governance.

13
Many of the concepts; paradigms and assumptions of the traditional public administration are repudiated and
rejected by public management. The latter plainly reconises the primacy of the service delivery system: men
at the counter determine how customers are served and hence utmost-attention is given to the cutting edge of
administration. New Public Management accepts market as the model of government and idealises the values
and techniques of private administration. This makes NPM open to criticisms: Public Administration cannot
make private administration as its model. The Economist, the well-known ‘pro reinventing government’ journal
rightly observed (20 May 1 990): government and management are two different things. NPM fails to take
account of real politic of government. The core base of a modem government lies in its observance of the
rule of law, not market-driven mechanisms. In India the political executive is accountable to parliament and
in turn administrative hierarchies are accountable to the political executive, and not to the customers of
government services directly.
New Public Management, however, must not be confused with New Public Administration. New Public
Administration was articulated by what may be called the Young Turks in Public Administration: young public
administrationists who were dissatisfied with the health of the subject and wanted to impart it a higher cause,
a worthier mission, a nobler goal. It sought to make public administration value-based. New Public Administration
of the 1960s emphasises the positive face of public administration including public service while New Public
Management pro-claims a Jihad, against the career bureaucracy: it promotes bureaucrat-basing, and at best
assumes that bureaucrats-are-good people trapped in bad systems. Public administration does suffer from
several shortcoming and weaknesses. But its problems are substantial and structural and attitudinal, and to
discard the whole of public administration is very like throwing the baby with the bathwater. Vincent Wright
rightly says: ‘At present, the public administration is the messenger boy of the political system with problems:
he is the bearer of unpleasant news. There may be a case for improving his efficiency. There is little real
justification for criticizing and under-nourishing him and there is none for shooting him. And that is what we
are in danger of doing-’ New Public Management stands for an uncritical acceptance of even the negative
features of private management. It shows complete ignorance of the attributes which are the distinguishing
marks of public administration and shows complete insensivity to the concept of public interest, the hallmark
of public administration. It cares little for administrative ethics in running public affairs. It shows complete
unawareness of the attributes which are required for running public affairs and displays great ignorance of the
attributes which define public administration that are anchored in the constitution of the country. One must
reiterate, the major problems in public administration are, in the ultimate analysis, political. New Public
Management tends to overlook this central fact and over simplifies public administration, offering in the
process over-simplified solutions to problems which are complex and intricate in nature. Yet New Public
Management cannot be dismissed lightly. There are elements of truth in its criticism of the classical public
administration. Its concern for the citizen is noble and deserves applause. In India the post 1980 administrative
reform is principally motivated by New Public Management.
New Public Management is nibbling away the public private distinction: public administration is thus being
driven to undergo business like transformation; the examples of this reform being Next Steps in Great Britain,
Public Service 2000, in Canada and the Al Gore Report in USA. Traditional public administration’s role in
shaping the socio-economic life of the society shrinks under New Public Management. The career bureaucracy
is wider heavy criticism; it is associated with excessive power: diminishing accountability, its diminished
capacity to represent public interest etc. It-is viewed as being indifferent towards public needs and demands.
Under the forces released by New Public Management, the publicness of public administration is getting
progressively eclipsed. Today, there is a search for alternatives to enhance publicness There is no more important
concern to public organization theory than the nature of “public” in public organisation. Public has a number
of synonyms in circulation. The surrogate concepts are public interest, common will, common good etc. The
defining traits of publicness of public administration are its impartiality and openness, its acceptance of

14
principles. such as equality and representation, its monopolistic and complex nature, its longer and broader
social impact etc. New Public Management or business management must not marginalize these essential
features of public administration. Publicness also depends on the size of the service recipients a greater number
of service recipient implies a higher degree of publicness. Another index of publicness of public administration
in its amenability to public accountability, processes like public hearings, grievance, redressal procedures, processes
like public hearings, ombudsman, sunshine laws etc. enhance accountability. Yet another measure of publicness
is the public trust in the credibility of public administration.
Public administration is presently invaded by terms such as competitiveness, efficiency, productivity, user fee,
profitability, cost benefit value-for-money, customer-satisfaction etc. New Public Management supports result-
oriented managerial behaviour based one performance targets. A pursuit of these business administration norms
may have the risk of making public administration less responsive to the needs and expectations of the citizens.
A business-like attitude expected of a public administrator under New Public Management and the people-
centered behaviour will go together.
New Public Management is also criticised for distancing the political executive from the implementational
aspects of public administration! Under NPM political executives are to lose control over the implementation
of their policy as a result of managerial reforms. Moshe Maor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
expresses this problem in this way investing in the public administration’s managerial capital (i.e., giving public
managers more authority to manage programmes is most likely to result in political executives’ disinventing
in the public administration’s political capital (i.e., giving minister’s greater capacity for setting central directions
and priorities and intervention in personal matters) so as to resolve the problems of loss of control over policy
implementation raised by the managerial reforms put in place under the new public management. Moshe Maor
thus talks about reduced role of policy making of higher civil Servants enhances political control over them.
New Public Management involves several shifts and changes. Public management implies replacement of the
traditional methods and ethos of public administration by private sector practices, which are claimed to be of
superior efficacy. Public management seeks to follow a policy of commercializing the public sector by introducing
the mechanism of quasi-markets, competitive tendering, performance measurement and consumer choice.
Equally significant is the increasing recruitment of managers from the private into the public sector. A greater
exchange of personnel between the two sectors is another of its features. A large number of chief executives
in the next steps agencies in Britain are recruited from the private sector. Public employees no longer enjoy
a guarantee of a job for life’. They are now offered temporary contracts. Salary and career prospects of staff
are linked to their performance. Flexibility characterizes many other spheres. For example, each ‘Next Steps;
agency is made responsible for the pay and conditions of its own staff. ‘New Public. Management argues for
a public sector less insulated from the private sector and for greater management’s discretion in the handling
of public administration:’
New Public Management is the managerialist model, which is rather alien to public administration. The
managerial thrust pushing administration into what maybe called neo-Taylonan direction.
The trend towards New Public Management observed in public administration is not without criticism. The
influx of private sector language must not neglect the values inherent in public’ administration. New Public
Management (NPM) propounds an alternative to the state-in the form of the market. NPM boldly recommends
privatization and all that it implies. It recommends growing application of management techniques.
One must member that what is applicable for the developed USA may not be so for a third world country like
India. In India market is not very developed. Nor is it very professional; most private sector companies are
essentially proprietory concerns.

15
The space which a state in modern times covers cannot be covered by market is vacated by it. Not is it safe
or desirable even to fold up that state and allow in private sector in all areas.
Today, under economic liberalization the market is becoming global. Theoretically, India too can create its
MNC’s by launching them in the countries of the West. Because India is a latecomer in field of industrialization
and does not have the resources either technological- financial and otherwise. India in the forceable future would
not make world’s MNCs would get increasingly attracted to India and they would be big beneficiaries when
the market becomes an alternative to the State. Under New Public Management: these Western leviathans
would happen to control the space-a big c-hunk of it at any rate, when vacated by the state.

16
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Foundation 2020
– Ashutosh Pandey

PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 4

Administrative Thinkers
 TOPICS

This booklet consist of the following topics:

1. FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR...............................................................1-6

2. HENRI FAYOL.....................................................................................................7-12

3. MAX WEBER........................................................................................................13-16

4. MARY PARKER FOLLET.................................................................................17-20

5. ELTON MAYO.....................................................................................................21-26

6. CHESTER BARNARD.......................................................................................27-32

7. HERBERT SIMON..............................................................................................33-38

8. CHRIS ARGYRIS................................................................................................39-43

9. FRED W. RIGGS.................................................................................................44-50
 Chapter - 1

FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR

FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR was born in 1856 at Boston, Massachusetts. As a student, he was keen
on taking up a career in law but his physicians had advised him against further studies because of his week
vision. As a result, Taylor had to abandon his plans to study law, and he initiated his career as an apprentice
in Enterprise Hydrolic Work in Philadelphia. He worked there for four years (1875-78) during which period he
completed his apprenticeship. In 1878 he joined the Midvale steel company as a labourer, and by virtue of his
high intelligence, he rose to the position of the Chief Engineer of the company. Later, for three years, he
worked as General Manager in manufacturing investment Company in Philadelphia. It was in this establishment
that Taylor propounded the concept of Scientific Management. Taylor was also associated with Bethlehem
Steel Company for three years (1898-1901). The last fourteen years of his life were spent towards improving
upon the techniques of scientific management.
Background to the Development of Scientific Management
It may be pertinent here to refer to the background in which Taylor’s ideas on Scientific Management emerged.
During the latter part of the 19th Century when industrial revolution was in its staged of maturity, American
business and industry were substantially expanding and thus were giving rise to a new managerial class. The
practice of management began to change from a simple day-to-day problem-solving approach to a more
comprehensive and integrated approach, primarily because multiple managerial problems not previously faced
by managers were now being encountered by them. Prominent economists such as Henry R. Towne and Henry
Metcalfe expressed their concern over the emerging problems of management. Towne wrote a paper entitled
“The Engineer as Economist” and presented it in 1886 before the American society of Mechanical Engineers.
Perhaps this very paper inspired Frederick W. Talyor to devote his attention to the field of scientific Management.
Taylor’s papers
The study of management, according to Taylor, included a composition collection of all facts and accounts
(Wages, supplies and expenses) as also the important factor of executive ability. Taylor’s first paper in the field
of management was “A Piece Rate System”. Although the paper was outstanding, it had a narrow focus, as
it discussed only the principles used for wage payment. Later in 1903, Taylor presented another paper on “shop
management” before the American society of Mechanical Engineers. In this paper Taylor underscored the
following points:
(a) The goal of good management should be either higher productivity or lower unit cost; to achieve this goal,
management must pay high wages. Only then increased industrial efficiency could be achieved.
(b) It is important to promote the application of methods of science to the problems of management.
(c) Standardization of working conditions by scientifically placing workers on job is crucially important.
(d) In order to increase workers’ output, they should be imparted scientific training.
(e) Relations between the management and workers should be cordial.
In spite of containing a perceptive analysis of the problems of management as also suggestion to meet complex
managerial situations, Taylor’s paper failed to arouse the imagination and interest of the audience. However,
in 1906, Taylor wrote another paper entitled “on the Art of Cutting Metals”. Eventually, in 1911, came his
widely known book, principles and methods of Scientific Management.

1
Taylor’s Concept of Management
Taylor’s major emphasis in his conceptualization was on collaboration between the management and the
workers through the application of scientific methods. He believed that that scientific methods should be
applied in selecting workers, in determining their jobs, and in creating an understanding between the management
and the workers that would improve the overall industrial efficiency. Taylor observed that if the output of the
worker achieved a level of excelled; but conversely, if he failed in increasing his output, penalty should be
imposed on him. Taylor’s concept of management involved a “mental revolution”, both on the part of the
management the workers. It required a complete change in the mental attitude of both sides towards their
respective duties and mutual relationships.
Taylor cautioned that generally management role was inclined to place increasing burden on the workers, while
keeping for itself only minor responsibilities. In this context, Taylor advised that over 50 per cent of labour’s
work should be assumed by management. The management should undertake the functions for which it was
best suited, i.e., planning, organizing, controlling and determining the method of work.
Initially Taylor listed four principles as a guide for the best type of management. These were;
1. Daily defined task: each man in the organization, high or low, should have a clearly defined task before him
every day he may work with a set aim.
2. Standardized working conditions: the working condition should be standardized in such a way that the
workers and management may accomplish their task in an environment of certainty.
3. Reward for success: the workman should given high pay if he accomplishes his task successfully and
efficiently.
4. Penalty for Failure: if the workers fails to achieve the task entrusted to him, he should be prepared for
penalty
The aforesaid principles were modified by Taylor in his later writings. His revised list of principles of management
was as follows:
1. Development of a true science of work: Taylor’s first principle pertained to other development of a science
for each task which would replace the rule of thumb in management. This, he observed, could be achieved
by scientifically investigating the working conditions and the amount of work to be undertaken and then
fixing daily task assignments so that the workers may work in a planned manner. For this the worker
operating under the scheme of scheme of Scientific Management be given higher rate of pay in comparison
to one operating in an unscientifically managed factory. Clearly, however, subscribing to the carrot and
stick theory, Taylor believed that the worker should an unscientifically managed factory. Clearly, however,
subscribing to the carrot and stick theory, Taylor believed that the worker should be penalized if he fails
to achieve the desired level of output.
2. Scientific selection and Training of workers: Taylor’s second principle of management related to the scientific
selection and placement of workers, i.e., workers should be placed in those jobs for which they were best
suited. While making scientific selection, their physical and intellectual qualities should be taken into
account. Besides, it should be the responsibility of management to train the workers and offer them
opportunities for advancement, thus enabling them to develop their personalities.
3. Equal Division of work Between the Management and Workers: The third Taylorian principle was that there
should be equal division of work and responsibility between management and workers. The management
should take all the task in its hand for which it was suitably prepared. This will mitigate chances of conflict
and thus help in creating a peaceful atmosphere for both workers and the management.

2
4. Cooperation between Management and Workers: Taylor’s last principle of Scientific Management was that
there should be intimate cooperation and cordial relations between management and workers. This would
create a healthy environment in the organization as also help promote industrial efficiency.
Taylor observed that the combination of the above four principles constituted the crux of “Scientific
Management”.
Mechanisms of Management
It is important to note that Taylor distinguished between “principles” of management and “mechanisms” of
management. Some of the mechanisms underscored by Taylor were as follows
1. The use of the stop-watch which was essential for the technique of time study.
2. Functional foremanship should be adopted by replacing the system of single foremanship. Taylor favored
this idea because he was himself a foreman once, and thus knew that it was quite impossible for the
general foreman to possess all the required technical knowledge and to exercise all the responsibilities
required by the new system of management. He suggested the system of eight functional foremen guiding
the functioning of a worker.
3. Standardization of all tools and techniques used in trades.
4. Planning of a large daily task should be undertaken in order to promote industrial efficiency. Therefore,
Taylor favoured the setting up of a separate planning cell or a department in every industrial unit.
5. The use of time-saving devices, e.g., slides rules.
6. The use of instruction card system to record what to do and how to do particular tasks.
7. Adoption of proper classification system of manufactured products as well as implements used in the
manufacturing process.
8. Use of the bonus system for the successful performance of the task.
9. Application of the “exception” principle under which Taylor called for setting up a large daily task, with
reward for meeting it and penalty for not achieving the targets.
10. Promotion of modern costing system.
Objectives of Scientific Management
There were five original objectives of the Scientific Management.
They were:
1. Industrial processes can be reduced to units for scientific observation and experiments. The operations of
workmen can be reduced to fundamental motions to ascertain the longest, shortest and average time
required for each motion.
2. The standard time prescribed for each operation cab be used as the task for each workman to achieve. Each
unit of product can be produced at a designated standard of efficiency and at a standard cost.
3. The workmen can be instructed in the best methods for achieving the standards and the responsibility for
imparting such instructions should be in the hands of foremen or supervisors.
4. The workmen can be relieved of the responsibility for determining how a process is to be performed and
thereby enable them to concentrate on the development o their mental dexterities.

3
5. The workmen can be inspired to accept new methods and to acquire dexterity in carrying out the specification
to achieve performance standards.
The original aims of scientific management were later expanded and elaborated by the Taylor’s society. These
were:
1. To help in developing higher standard of living by increasing the income of workers.
2. To avoid wastage of human and material resources in order to get larger income from expenditure. This
income should be shared between the management and the workers.
3. Management should assure a happier home and surrounding to the worker by removing disagreeable
factors.
4. Individually and socially, healthy conditions of work should be provide to the members of the organization.
5. Maximum opportunities should be provided for the highest development of individual’s capacity through
scientific method of work assignment and selection, training, transfers and promotion.
6. Training should be imparted to workers so that they may develop newer capabilities and at the same time
become eligible for promotion.
7. Steps should be taken for the development of self-confidence and self=respect among workers.
8. An atmosphere of research should be created where workers could develop the capacity to express and
understand the aims and objectives of the organization.
9. In order to promote justice, discrimination in wages should be avoided.
10. Factors which cause conflict and a feeling of intolerance should be eliminated from the environment.
The above general aims and objectives formed an integral part of the philosophy of scientific management have
endured and developed into modern management theories and thus have expanded conceptual frameworks for
managerial problem-solving.
Impact of Scientific Management
It is significant to mention that scientific Management brought a drastic change in the whole approach towards
the management of industries. The impact of the movement was felt through the overall improvement in
industrial management. Through it, wastage of human and material resources was minimized. It also helped
in effecting a better and effective utilization of labour by placing the workers in a better position, giving them
higher wages, limiting their working hours and above all by creating better working conditions for them.
The impact of scientific Management was felt not only on the labour bout also on management. More accurate
control system and planning was evolved. The movement also provided guidelines to the management to
develop an effective organization. Notably, Taylor was probably the first management thinker to stress the
concept of research and use of standards in management. It was he who emphasized the importance of
planning-which had been overlooked for many years-and the concepts of control in management. in addition
to the above four postulates, viz., research, standards Maintenance, planning and control, Taylor introduced the
guidelines of cooperation between labour and management. These five principles form the base of every
successful management.

4
Scientific Management in American Government
In the beginning of the twentieth century, scientific management became and “infectious” movement in the
United states it permeated not only the factory, the business office and the sales shop but also the government
organizations. In 1910, the Scientific Management movement manifested itself in the setting up of the
commission on Economy and Efficiency under President Taft. The recommendations of this commission
helped in popularizing the scientific management movement. Later, President Woodrow Wilson, as advocate
of administrative efficiency through civil service reform tried to rebalance Tocqueville’s democratic America
with Taylor’s efficient America. Taylor’s faith in the existence of the one best way to do each work-productive
or procedural-was equally applied to management problems in government and business. Thus the technology
of Taylorism became, along with the democratic credo, one of the main elements in American public
administration.
Scientific Management in the Soviet Union
Scientific Management was popular not only in America but it also gained considerable significance in the
Russian industries. The Russian Scientific management was identified with Taylor’s name even before 1920.
V.I. Lenin exhorted the Russian industries managers to apply the principles of Scientific Management for
increasing production. Although during 1930s and 1940s a tendency prevailed to popularize the Soviet campaign
for greater and more efficient production through the application of Scientific Management. This was done in
the name of the Russian workers and not that of Taylorism.
Criticism of Scientific Management
Taylor no doubt was the first person responsible for the development of modern scientific management though,
yet the Scientific Management movement was greeted with a number of apprehensions and misgivings. Labour’s
negative reaction to Taylor’s Scientific Management was not unexpected. Workers were skeptical of the impact
of “stop watch” and “rate cutting” approach. It was alleged that Taylor was more interested in the purely
mechanical aspects of work rather than with their total work situation. Labour’s opposition to Scientific
Management led to an investigation by Prof Robert Hoxie on behalf of the United States Commission on
industrial Relations.
The main issue to be investigated by Prof. Hoxie concerned Scientific Management in relation to labour. He
submitted his compilation of “Labour Objections to Scientific Management” to the American Federation of
Labour for editing. His was probably one of the first published criticisms of the Scientific Management
movement. In Hoxie’s opinion, there was insufficient scientific basis for Scientific Management, because there
was nothing in the system capable of preventing violation of its own standards in matters pertaining to human
conditions and relations. The major criticism of Hoxie was that the basic ideals of Scientific Management and
trade unionism were incompatible- Scientific Management concerned itself wholly with production, and was
unconcerned with the problem of the monotony of workers. It even lessened the continuity and certainty of
employment.
When the unions assumed an attitude of uncompromising opposition, the U.S. congress in 1914 prohibited by
law the use of the system’s essential features. Some time before 1924 Oliver Sheldon, an English management
thinker, wrote that Scientific Management had helped greatly in the development of a science of management
but that did not mean that the work should detract from the predominantly human job of the mangers to
manage. Even M.P Follet a well known business philosopher of the time, agreed with Sheldon as to the need
for emphasizing human factors is management. Miss Follet was a pioneer who helped bridge the gap between
the mechanistic approach of Taylor and the approach emphasizing human behavior.

5
In 1926 Taylor’s movement was criticized by Sam Lewisohn in his New Leadership in industry. This provided
a new view of the responsibility of personnel specialists in the maintenance of good human relations in an
organization. The worker, Lewisohn contended, wanted justice, status and opportunity, and so the manager
could not delegate the responsibility of providing these requisites to his personnel officer; it remained only with
the managers.
The significance of Taylor’s Scientific Management cannot be measured by the acceptance or non-acceptance
of some of its features. Rather, it lies in the growth of the management thought through the application of
scientific methods. Nevertheless, it was realized that the failure of Taylor’s principles in industry and government
was due to the oversimplified assumptions of human actions. The theoretical assumption of the movement
was that the speed, cost and quality of goods and services were dependent variables, and that they could be
maximized by the adjustment of independent variables such as division of labour, method of supervision,
financial incentives, flow of materials and, lastly, physical methods and condition.
It is generally alleged that human factor in management was underemphasized by Taylor. This led to a series
of psychological and sociological studies. The Hawthorne experiment (1927-1932) and post-World War II
research in group dynamics and human relations in industry helped in rejecting the oversimplified notion that
economic incentives largely explained employee’s behavior. The Hawthorne experiment proved that logical
factors were less important than emotional factors in determining productive efficiency.
But most of the criticisms of Scientific Management generally overlooked the human aspect of organization
already referred to by Taylor. It is unfortunate that Taylor’s original works are sometimes not fully scanned and
the conventional criticism of one-sidedness is heaped on his theories. Of course, the human behavior facet of
organization was underemphasized in Taylor’s work, but certainly it was not entirely neglected.
Taylor’s idea of Scientific Management also met criticism on account of the fact that Taylor himself did not
know how to translate the idea into practice effectively. His system was grossly misused even in his own
presence. In fact, it was the misuse of the system that led to the noted Congressional enquiry. When Taylor
was giving evidence before the Enquiry ‘Committee, he was asked by the Committee Chairman: How many
concerns, to your knowledge, use your system in its entirety?’ To this Taylor replied, “In its entirety, none, not
one.” This speaks of the dissatisfaction of Taylor with the application of his own concepts.
Even in the United Kingdom attempts to use Taylor’s method met with considerable opposition from the trade
unions. Taylorism is still a dirty term in England, although the trade unions have adopted many of its principles
in a modified form. It seems that the body of Taylor’s ideas has grown without the development of its spirit.
There is another side too, which needs to be mentioned. It is difficult to question Taylor’s sincerity when he
wrote that “No system of management, however good, should be applied in a wooden way. The proper
personnel relations should always be maintained between the employees and men.” Taylor once admitted that
there might be psychological aspect relating to his ideas which he was not competent to assess and which he
hoped someone would study. Later researches have filled up this gap to a great extent.

6
 Chapter - 2

HENRI FAYOL
H E N R I FAVO L, a renowned French engineer-manager’ was among the pioneers who systematically
examined their own personal administrative experiences on the basis of theories of management. In contrast
to Taylor’s emphasis on first line, supervision in production areas, Henri Fayol’s work was oriented towards the
higher level of organization. However, both the scholars had focused on the problems of industrial administration.
Henri Fayol was born in 1841 of a French bourgeois family He spent his early working life in the French mining
industry. A the age of 21, he was appointed an engineer in the Commentary pit of the S. A. Commentary-
Fourchamboult-Decazeville and by 1888, at the age of 47, he had risen to the position of managing director
of this mining firm. It is noteworthy that when Fayol first took the administrative charge of the company,
it was on the verge of bank ruptcy, but with imaginative leadership and dedication of Fayol, it not only regained
the lost ground but also moved far ahead of its other competitive units. Thus when Fayol retired in 1918, the
company’s financial position had become almost impregnable. Beside, the company had made a valuable
contribution to the French effort in World War I. In fact the organization had evolved an administrative
and technical staff which was known for ‘its competence and excellence throughout France. This had been
achieved primarily on account of Fayol’s dynamic and imaginative administrative leadership.
In 1918, when Fayol retired at the age of 77, he decided to devote the remaining years of his life in
disseminating an understanding of his concepts and exploring the possibilities of the application of these
concepts in fields other than business.
Fayol’s views on administration were made known first in 19C and later in 1908 in the forms of papers that
he presented before several engineering and mining conferences. Interestingly enough Fayol belonged to the
category of persons who achieve fame for their ideas quite late in their life. Thus Fayol was in his seventies
when he could see the publication of his ideas in the form of a book. Unfortunately for Fayol, this delay in
publication caused his ideas to take a back seat to Taylor’s concepts which were sweeping France and the rest
of Europe during and after World War I.
Taylor’s principles of Scientific Management had turned out to be appealing to the industrial West. For
instance, the French mister of War during World War I, Mr. Georges Clemenau, had ordered all the plants
under his control to study and apply Taylor’s scientific Management. But soon, time turned on Fayol’s side.
As soon as his book, Administration Industriellet Generale, was published in 1916, French executives started
analyzing the operation of their organizations employing the methodology devised by Fayol. Gradually, French’s
theory began receiving acceptance in non-industrial areas as well. In fact Fayol had constantly emphasized the
possibility of the universal applicability of his management principles to all forms of human endeavour.
Concepts and Elements of Management
As has already been stressed, Fayol was among those modern administrative thinkers who underscored ‘the
need to develop a general approach to management sciences. Fayol observed that management was an activity
common to all human undertakings, whether public, private or domestic. Fayol highlighted the point that all
undertakings engaged in performing management functions require five basic managerial elements, viz., planning,
organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling.
Planning is the first and basic element of management. The manager must look ahead and try as best as he
can to forecast the future needs of the organization. It is significant to note that when appropriate tools and

7
techniques’ were not invented, managerial forecast was based essentially on hunch. Fayol tried ‘to move the
World of management from a stage of uncertainty to a state of relative certainty. Using his own experiences,
Fayol suggested a system of making yearly, monthly, weekly and daily forecasts for oganizational productivity—
a system that could operate as a guide for facilitating effective organizational performance.
In Fayol’s scheme, next to planning conies organization to the treatment of which he devoted more he devoted
more than half of his important book.
Fayol held that for starting a business two things were essential: material organization and human organization
in material organization, Fayol listed the elements o raw materials, tools and capital, whereas the personnel
managerial functions was covered under the rubric of human organization here it is relevant to mention that
Fayol’s major concern was with human organization, and so he focused upon the analysis and elaboration of
managerial duties in a dynamic organization. Fayol observed that at the top level of an organization, affairs
should be guided by the shareholders whose job it should be to appoint the Board of Directors of the
undertaking. The functions of the shareholders should include sending policy proposals to the management and
to exercise overall control over policy. The next important level in general management, consisting of one or
more general managers, with the responsibility of directing the enterprise to achieve its goals. Lastly, in the
hierarchical set-up; of an organization comes line staff whose duties should be to support general management
with’ the help of its specialized knowledge. The line staff is not expected to have any executive, responsibility.
The third element in Fayol’s theory of management is command whose purpose is to set the human organization
in motion to achieve the objectives of the broader organization. For exercising, effective command over his
subordinates, a manager should he competent and experienced and, above, all, he should know his subordinates
well. For this purpose the manager should review periodically, the functioning pattern of his organization and
hold regular conferences with his subordinates.
After command, the element receiving place in Fayol’s scheme is coordination. According to Fayol, a manager
must coordinate the activities of the organization by harmonizing all integral subsystems and keeping a proper
balance between material, social and functional parts by watching the effects of one function over the performance
of the other as also by maintaining a balance between expenditure and resources.
The last element in Fayol’s model of general management is control through which the weaknesses and failures
of an organization are pointed out with an objective of preventing them from recurring. Control, as Fayol
believed, was a precious auxiliary to management.
Teaching of Management or Administration
After having developed, on the basis of his successful experience, a theory of administration, Fayol stressed
that in order to disseminate knowledge of this theory it would be desirable to teach it in schools and universities.
It may be mentioned that Fayol was very critical of civil engineering colleges in France for their not including
the subject of administration in their courses, since he believed that administrative acumen could not be
developed through technical training alone.
Soon after Fayol retired from his active service, he began devoting himself to the teaching of management in
schools and colleges. He opined that administrative training should not be confined to engineers. In fact,
everyone, whether at home, school, business or in government undertakings, requires to develop an insight into
the functioning of administrative systems. The only variance in different situations could be in regard to the
amount of the training required for different services. It may also vary according to the position held by a
trainee. Thus with each higher level of administration, the level of training will become more advanced. Fayol
also paid attention to the question of subject matter to be taught. In Fayol’s time, there was no comprehensive

8
theory of management which could be acceptable to all training organizations. Precisely for this reason, he
presented his own theory to initiate the teaching of management.
Fayol subdivided the operation of an industrial undertaking into six independent activities, viz.,
1. Technical, including production, manufacturing and adaptation;
2. Commercial—buying, selling and exchange;
3. Financial—provision of capital and optimum use of capital;
4. Security—protection of property and persons;
5. Accounting—stock-taking, balance-sheets, costs and statistics; and
6. Managerial—planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling.
Fayol observed that for each group of activities certain basic abilities are necessary to carry them out. These
are:
1. Physical qualities;
2. Mental qualities;
3. Moral qualities;
4. General education;
5. Special knowledge of the task assigned; and
6. Experience.
Although management activity has been placed last in the first classification, Fayol observed that the major
ability required in the operation of an industrial undertaking lies in performing the managerial function. He held
that however highly developed technical or other abilities may be in an organization, if the managerial function
is weak, a business organization will not succeed in achieving goals.
Fayol’s major objective in writing General and Industrial Management was to initiate a process of theory
formulation in the field of management and therefore he devoted a major portion of the book on this specific
point. It was under Fayol’s guidance that the Centre of Administrative Studies was set up to hold weekly
academic meetings and to publish monographs and articles on administration and management.
Principles of Management and Administration
As already referred to, Fayol had an ambition of developing a set of principles of management or administration,
which, by and large could be used in varying organizational situations. Accordingly, he identified a number of
principles of management which he thought would serve this purpose. Certainly Fayol did not assume that
these principles will have universal application or would have the characteristic of permanency. Yet even after
an elapse of half a century most of Fayol’s principles continue to be integral parts of modern management
theory. Fayol specified the following principles in general theory of management:
1. Division of work
2. Authority and responsibility
3. Discipline

9
4. Unity of command
5. Unity of direction
6. Subordination of individual interest to general interest
7. Remuneration of personnel
8. Centralization
9. Scalar chain
10. Order
11. Equity
12. Stability of tenure of personnel
13. Initiative
14. Esprit de corps.
In addition, Fayol formulated a number of other principles in the course of analyzing the five elements of
administration Mentioned earlier. Thus there appears to be no specific limit to the number of principles
incorporated in Fayol’s conceptual scheme. In fact, new principles take’ the form of old ones in the light of
experience. Yet the major focus of Fayol’s inquiry remained on the fourteen principles enumerated above.
It may be underscored that the principles propounded by Fayol should be, seen only as guidelines great skill
and knowledge would be required in using and adopting them to particular circumstances. A brief reference
to these principles may be in order at this point.
1. Division of Work: The major task of an organization, according to Fayol, is to develop the personnel
capable of carrying out the six activities already noted (technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting
and managerial). For this, the use of specialized task skills becomes essential. This would allow an individual
to attain greater dexterity in his particular branch of activity, thereby facilitating increased production.
Fayol highlighted the point that every organization, big or small, should place its employees according to
the talents and experience of each.
2. Authority and Responsibility: Fayol defined authority as “the right to give orders and the power to exact
obedience.” He distinguished between two types of authority: official authority, which is legally given to
a person, and personal authority, which a person acquires through his ability, knowledge, experience and
intellect.
3. Since authority must commensurate with responsibility, special steps must be taken to induce people to
accept responsibility. This can be made feasible by pinning down specific responsibilities on all the people
who exercise authority at various levels in an organization.
4. Discipline: Fayol observed that for proper exercise of authority, discipline in an organization is a prerequisite.
‘Discipline, in fact, is a two-faceted phenomenon: employees would obey orders only when the management
plays its role well by providing good leadership. In some situations, it could turn out to be just one-sided,
for instance, when discipline is imposed upon the subordinates by the management from above.
5. Unity of Command: Fayol’s principle of unity of command was in contrast to Taylor’s principle of functional-
authority. Fayol opined that each employee in an organization should have only one direct superior from

10
 whom he would receive directives. This arrangement would help avoid conflicting lines of authority. Fayol
did not favour a system of dual command which, in his view, was likely to result into confusion in
authority channels and ambiguity in responsibility pattern.
6. Unity of Direction: along with unity of command, unity of direction was also among Fayol’s most vigorously
stated principles. Fayol stressed that there should be a single head and a uniform plan for a group of
activities having the same objectives. He observed that a body with two heads in a social organization as
also in the animal world is like a monster who has difficulty in surviving.
7. Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest: According to Fayol, management must ensure that the
goals of ’ the organization dominate the individual’s interests. The individual, whether a worker or a
manager, should submerge his own interest into the organizational goal interest. Since organization is
above everything, its interest or, in other words, the general interest, should come first. The aims and
interests of groups, departments and sections should be subordinated to the larger organizational needs and
goals. This approach is likely to result into greatest common good.
8. Remuneration of Personnel: This particular principle in Fayol’s conceptualization’ emphasizes that the
compensation policies and practices in an organization should be fair and afford maximum satisfaction to
the employer as well as to the employees. This principle in essentiality is similar to one of the basic
assumptions underlying Taylor’s Scientific Management, i.e., motivation of an employee is dependent,
among other things, on the monetary incentive that he gets in an organization.
9. Centralization: Fayol observed that the degrees of centralization or decentralization in an organization
varies, depending on the condition of the business and abilities and qualities of the people involved. Fayol
opined that centralization is not something which can be used or abandoned at will. It was the consequence
of a natural order of things involving sensations—coverage towards the brain or directive part and from
the brain or directive part, orders are sent out which set all parts of the organism in movement.
10. Scalar Chain or Hierarchy: Scalar chain refers to the line of authority from superior to subordinate. It is
a channel of authority for communication and decision-making. Fayol held the view that this chain should
remain unbroken. An employee should not freely approach directly his superior’s superior. Thus the scalar
chain should only be short circuited when scrupulous following of it would be detrimental to the
organizational effectiveness or when two employees with the consent of their respective superiors make
direct contacts with each and inform their bosses of the decisions reached between them. Fayol’s emphasis
on the principle of hierarchy shares common concerns with other management thinkers of the classical
school and with Max Weber.
11. Equity: As has been stressed earlier, Fayol was more concerned with human relations element in organization
than what he is generally credited with. To some extent, this concern is also reflected in his stress on the
efficacy of equity in organization, which, according to him, resulted from the combination of kindness and
justice. It was the duty of the management to ensure that justice and kindliness were meted out to the
workers in an organization.
12. Stability of Tenure of Personnel: Fayol believed that an effective business organization would require a
relatively stable management cadre. This is essential on account of the time and expense involved in
training good managerial personnel. A quick turnover of personnel is dysfunctional to organizational
effectiveness and is also wasteful. Instability of tenure causes lowering of the morale of employees, loss
of experience and expertise and break in the continuity of organizational policies.

11
13. Order: The principle of order revolves round the idea that there is a place for everything and everything
has its place. Order applies to human as well as social material. Order minimizes wastage of time and
material resources, although social order needs a careful balance of requirements and resources.
14. Initiative: Initiative, Fayol stressed, must be encouraged by the management at all levels. In the process
of percolation of this spirit to the lower levels, it is likely to involve a sacrifice of “personal vanity’ on
the part of managers. Fayol also suggested that managers should share some of their decision-making
authority with their subordinates, because initiative thus generated would become a source of strength for
the organization as a whole.
15. Esprit de Corps: The last principle outlined by Fayol was Esprit de Corps which is described as the
prevalence of harmony among all members of the organization. Management must foster the morale of
its employees—and for this, real talent is needed to coordinate activities, encourage keen interpersonal
cooperation and reward each man for his merit without giving rise to any jealousies. Fayol even welcomed
the trend for competing firms develop friendly relations and settle common interest by joint agreements
Fayol’s Comparison with Taylor
Fayol’s influence in France Was similar to Taylor’s in the United States. Essentially; their contributions were
complementary, to eat other, yet in certain, areas, they differed in their approaches. Taylor concentrated on
the administrative operations at the worker level whereas Fayol started from the opposite end, that is, of
the, chief executive. Taylor’s approach to management dealt with specifics of the job analysis and employees’
motion and time standards, while Fayol viewed management as a teachable theory dealing with planning,
organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling.
Taylor could probably be characterized as more of a philosopher at heart than was Fayol, although Taylor’s
philosophy grew from his early experiments with techniques. His philosophy was basic to all his teachings,
his writings and his life’s work. Fayol, though also a philosopher, did not show the same zeal in this area as
was exhibited by Taylor. Fayol emerges as a man possessing managerial mission in life. Both Taylor and Fayol
were early pioneers and modern management thought owes a tremendous debt to each of them.
Conclusion
In evaluating Fayol’s work one cannot help being impressed by his logical thinking and foresight. His original
listing of the functions of management still reads like a managerial treatise.
Fayol was the first modern administrative thinker to emphasize the universality of management functions and
principles. He attributed his practical success to the application of certain simple principles, which could be
taught. His management theory, paved the way for the evolution of the modern approach to higher management.
Even when we agree that Fayol’s theoretic formulation, was incomplete, was too narrow and was based
solely on the author’s own personal limited experiences, it cannot be denied that the whole exercise had a
substantial thematic congruity and relevance to the modern management system.
In spite of belonging to the classical school which had focused on formal aspects of organization, Fayol
considerably emphasized certain important aspects of human relations in an organizational behaviour, although
this attempted synthesis between the structural and the human aspects of organization does not appear to be
adequate when viewed from the contemporary values of human element In complex organizations,

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 Chapter - 3

MAX WEBER
THE EXPONENT of the most important paradigm of bureaucracy in administrative sciences, Max Weber was
born in Germanyin 1864. Weber was a child of the Bismarkian era. His father was a lawyer and the atmosphere
prevalent in the Weber household helped develop in Max Weber an intellectual interest and keenness right from
early childhood. Weber received an excellent secondary education in languages, history and classics and he
attended the Universities of Heidelburg, Cottingen and Berlin. Although he received his formal education in
law, ‘he did acquire simultaneously professional competence in the fields of economics, history and philosophy.
In 1886, Weber appeared at the bar examination and later completed his academic training over a period of
five years. However, his health never permitted him to hold a permanent academic position and therefore he
had to serve as a privatdozen in law at the University of Berlin as also in the capacity of a government
consultant. Later in 1894, he was appointed Professor of Economics at the University of Freilburg, a position
he left in 1809 to join as Professor of Economics at the University of Heidelburg.
However, for a period of four years, Weber was unfit to pursue any academic work. In 1898, he suffered a
nervous breakdown from which he could not recover easily. Resultantly, the University granted him leave
without pay. It was only in 1903 that Weber was able to resume his academic activities. Ho became the co-
editor of the Archie Fur Social Wissenchtift, and later in 1904 he started publishing his own scholarly works.
‘Prom then onward, he lived as a private scholar in the city of Heidelburg. In the years immediately preceding
his death in 1922, he did some formal academic work in the cities of Vienna and Munich.
Weber’s primary interest was in the analysis of the development of civilizations. This is reflected in his studies
of the sociology of religion and the sociology of economic life. In both these important areas, he examined
at length the major religions of the world, bureaucracy is synonymous with inefficiency and red tape, Weber’s
analysis, should be viewed in the context of his methodology of constructing ideal typical models and his
comparative assessment of the traditional, charismatic and legal rational authority systems.
Nature of Bureaucratic Administrative Staff
Weber observed that for all types of authority, the existence and functioning of an administrative staff was
vital, but the nature of the staff and the activities it performed differed according to the basis of legitimizing
authority.
The most rational form of administrative staff, according to Weber, is ‘monocratic bureaucracy’ that is found
in a legal rational authority system. He has also termed it as ‘pure’, since purely from a technical point of view,
it is capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency and thus it is the most rational known means of
exercising control over human beings.
The characteristics of bureaucracy, according to Weber, are many, but here only three main broad characteristics
are being taken for analysis, viz, division of labour, hierarchy and rulers.
1. Division of Labour: This involves a specified sphere of competence which has been marked off as part
of a systematic division of labour. Each office is the primary occupation of the incumbent so long as he
enjoys tenure, but he cannot personally own the office or the means of production and administration. His
job placement is based on his qualifications and his special training and not on contractual relationship.

13
2. Hierarchy: Hierarchy is the second fundamental characteristic which is found in a pure bureaucracy. There
is a separation between super and subordinate offices, i.e., each lower offices under the control and
supervision of a higher one. Then there are fixed salaries which are given in accordance with the nature
of the job and responsibility as well as the social status. In addition, there are chances of promotion and
career advancement on the basis of seniority and merit. Lastly, there is a right of appeal and of statement
of grievances from the lower to the higher.
3. Rules: Thirdly, a pure bureaucracy operates in accordance with the rules. These rules operate only in
relation to the official job of an office-holder. In his personal relations, however he is not governed by these
rules. The role of rules has been stressed by Weber so that personal favours, arbitrariness, grace or gratitude
may not hinder the working of an organization. Even an act of person or discretion aimed at preserving
or increasing the official’s powers must be justified by impersonal ends.
Weber’s Ideas on Efficiency and Rationality
Max Weber’s ideas on efficiency and rationality are closely related to his ideal type bureaucracy. He observed
that bureaucracy is capable of attaining the highest level of efficiency, since the means used are those which
will beat achieve the stated ends. Another reason for its efficient is that personal whims of the leaders and
traditional procedures are no longer influential in such a system.
In a bureaucratic organization, although there are a number of officials, their respective roles are circumscribed
by written definitions of authority. Various offices are arranged in a hierarchical order, each successive step
embracing all those beneath it. Weber also described it as a rational system, because an important aspect of
the rationality of the system is that all information is writer down, and there is a clearer demarcation between
personal and official affairs.
Authority in such an organization is based in the office, and the commands are obeyed because the rules state
that it is within the competence of a particular officer to issue commands. Stress is also laid on the appointment
of experts.
To Weber, the rationality of the organization is reflected in its ability to calculate the consequences of its
actions. Since there is a hierarchy of authority and the system of rules, control of the actions of individuals
in the Organization is assured. Besides, because of ’ the employment of experts who have their specific areas
of authority and responsibility, there is a mixture of the best available knowledge. This enables making
predictions about future events, and even the organization attains increasing rationality because of the “methodical
attainment of a definitely given and practical and by means of an increasingly precise calculation of means.”
This shows that bureaucratic organizations are more likely to be efficient than the administrative subsystems
operating in the traditional and charismatic authority systems. It may once again be stressed that advantages
of bureaucracy should be seen in relation to the efficacy of the other types of administrative systems which
Weber had studied.
Weber noted that the development of bureaucracy has been due to the democratic movements demanding
equality before law and protection against arbitrary excesses of legal and administrative authority. As a result
of such movements, Appointments in the administrative system are made by free contract on the basis of
competence, ability and qualifications rather than on personal or political considerations. This process leads to
a formal equality between the officials and the subordinates over whom’ they exercise authority ..‘ under
the rules and the laws. Then the importance of technical v qualifications is also emphasized in bureaucratic
organizations. Even an official in a political party or a trade union organization is in need of specialized
knowledge. This only goes to prove that recruitment and advancement in bureaucracy is another stimulus for
the levelling of status differences.

14
Besides identifying the role of bureaucracy in a democratic government, Weber also analyzed the possible
evil effects that a bureaucratic system could have on the functioning of a democratic order. He noted that
officials appointed for life-time careers are in a position to misuse their authority. In such a situation, democracy
as such is opposed to the rule of bureaucracy because it promotes “bureaucratization”. Weber recognized the
fact that under such a situation bureaucracy concentrates power in the hands of those who are in charge of
administrative machinery. This situation acts against the principle of democracy. But, on the other band, he also
realized that without an administrative class, democracy will be plagued by spoils ‘system and patronage which
in the long run may lead to public waste, corruption, red-tapism, irregularities and, above all, inefficiency.
Thus Weber opined that democracy should promote what reason demands and democratic sentiments
hate. Weber’s analysis of the political role of bureaucracy has received very little attention in comparison to
some of his other analyses such as on economy and religion. This may be mainly because of the fact that most
of his writings are not available in English and, secondly, he was unable to complete his analysis of the
relationship between the bureaucracy and the political system before his death.
Growth of Modern Bureaucracy
Weber tried to identify the various factors and the conditions that have contributed to the growth of bureaucracy
in modern times. The development of the modern form of organizations and corporations has led to the
development and continual spread of bureaucratic administration, especially in the Western States. Although
in many organizations, the existence of bureaucracy may not be a dominant characteristic and people may
complain about the evils of bureaucracy, yet it would be sheer illusion that even for a moment, complex
administrative work can be carried out without the involvement of officials.
Weber underscored the fact that the capitalist system has undeniably played a major role in the development
of modern bureaucracy. Its development under capitalist system has created an urgent need for s stable state
and a well-organized administration. Besides, capitalism is considered to be the most rational economic basis
for bureaucratic administration, since it enables it to develop in a most rational form.
Finally, Weber has discussed at great length the role certain limitations. On the one hand, Weber observed that
officials should be appointed on the basis of technical competence, while, on the other, he prescribed that
superiors should be obeyed on the basis of their incumbency of an office. Thus it becomes difficult to resolve
the problem of tension between the need for loyalty and a claim for expertise.
Although Weber attempted to associate bureaucracy with the attainment of efficiency, references in sociological
literature show that Weber’s ideal type bureaucracy impedes the attainment of efficiency.
In Weber’s analysis of a “fully developed” bureaucracy, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the more
developed a bureaucracy is, the less “responsible” it would be. Friedrich, criticizing Weber for making a value
judgment, has observed that Weber’s analysis of bureaucracy vibrates with something of the Prussian enthusiasm
for the military organization.
However, most criticisms of Weber’s Bureaucratic model generally emanate from blurring his analysis of ideal
typical bureaucracy in a legal rational system with his observations based on the empirical assessment of the
bureaucratic system in the Germany of his times. Weber was not a champion of the bureaucratic order; be only
opined that compared to the administrative systems of traditional and charismatic authority, bureaucracy was
more capable of operating with greater efficiency and rationality.
Weber’s bureaucratic model, in its entirety, is not found to be operating in any of the contemporary societies:
It is largely on account of the fact that there does not exist any ideal typical legal rational authority system
in empirical reality, What we find is a mixture of authority systems functioning in various countries of the

15
world today. As a result, the administrative systems operating in cross-cultural contexts bear a mixture of
characteristics drawn from different ideal typical models of Weber. For an analytical purpose, Weber’s models
can serve an important heuristic objective. A variety of models can be constructed with the aid of Weber’s
typologies. And that is where Weber’s contribution to administrative sciences appears to be potentially
phenomenal. The need is to tap this potentiality.

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 Chapter - 4

MARY PARKER FOLLET

MARY PARKER FOLLET was the first, lady pioneer in the field of administrative thought. She was born’
in Boston in 1868 of an old Quincy Massachusetts family, She received her secondary education at Thayer
Academy in Braintree. It was here that she first met her important intellectual challenge in the person of Anna
Boynton Thompson, who taught history at Thayer. Soon of the intellectual bent of her early training was
tempered with an entirely different kind of teacher, the distinguished historian and political scientist, Albert
Bushnell Hart of Harvard University. Miss Follet got herself enrolled at Harvard’s Annexe for Women in
1888 a time when Professor Hart was getting interested in the problem of United States Congress Speakership.
Later, Miss Follet’s interest also developed in the role of the American Speaker. In 1896, Miss Follet published
a full length book, The Speaker of the House of Representatives, on this subject. The book established Mary
Follet as a serious writer in the field of legislative systems.
In 1898, Miss Follet graduated from Radcliffe and returned to Boston. Around 1900, she started working on
social problems and in 1902 she became chairman of the committee that sponsored clubs in local school
houses. In 1908, she was asked to become chairman of the Committee on Extended Use of School Buildings
for the newly formed Women’s Municipal League of Boston.
While Mary Follet was making her contribution to social service, she was also setting the stage for her later
work. She noted that people in groups produce results both in thought and in action that could not be produced
by any of the participants, acting or thinking separately. Her early enthusiasm on this point was reflected in
her first book on the subject which appeared in 1918. It was entitled The New State: Group Organization the
Solution of Popular Government. The New State was well reviewed in learned journals all the world over, and
brought Miss Follet national and international recognition.
The community work brought Miss Follet into public service as a member of the Massachusetts Minimum
Wage Board. Here her early contacts with business men had awakened her interest in observing business
operations. She was probably one of the first to indicate how business management might develop into a
genuine profession.
Mary Parker Follet’s main ideas on management are published in the book Dynamic Administration. This
volume includes all the lectures delivered by her on management in America as well as England. A brief
reference to her major ideas is being made below.
Conflict and Integration
According to Miss Follet, conflicts in organizations are inevitable. Conflict is the appearance of differences-
differences of opinions and of interests. As such, conflict is neither good nor bad, but provides opportunities
for good or bad results. Follet opined that managers must learn to use conflict in a conflict in a constructive
manner.
Follet has suggested three ways of resolving or dealing with organizations conflict. The first one is domination,
which means victory by one side over the other. The second method pointed out by her is compromise, that
is, each side surrenders some part of what it wants in order to reach a settlement lastly, the most constructive
means of resolving conflict is integration, in which a new solution is found which satisfies the real needs of
both the sides and neither side sacrifices anything. In Follet’s analysis, integration is considered to be the best
means of resolving conflict, although it is not the easiest mechanism to operate. In domination, one side has

17
to be defeated by the other for resolving conflict, while in compromise, there is a mid-point agreement between
the needs and desires of both .the parties a situation which may not be quite palatable to either party. Hence,
integration emerges as perhaps the best way by which conflict can be dealt most fruitfully.
The first step towards integration is to bring conflict into the open and then each side should recognize for itself
as to what its real needs are. This can be done by judiciously examining the symbols that are used and the
situation to which they refer. It also involves breaking down whole demands into constituent parts and then
finding the real demand, examining the real meanings of symbols and finally preparation for the response of
the other side. Such actions, according to Toilet, may bring about unity out of conflict, because both sides are
able to find a way out which satisfies their real needs.
The Psychology of Control
In March 1927, Miss Follet presented an important paper on the subject of the psychology of control. Before
having an understanding of the mechanism of control, one should first try to know the nature of unities since
effective unity is the aim through which organization engineers can exercise can exercise control. Unities,
according to Follet, are determined not only by their constituents but by the relation of these constituents to
one another. The implication is that in management, we cannot separate the economic, the psychological and
the ethical aspects and consider each separately. They are all parts of the total situation.
The second point emphasized by follet is the nature of reciprocal activity in creating unities, since the study
of social situation will be inadequate if it does not take this into account.
In every social process, there are three interrelated aspects, viz., of interacting, unifying and emerging. These
three parts work together in developing unity and, according to Miss follet, in the real life their influences
cannot be disentangled from each other. The smile activity develops flue whole and the parts at the same time.
The result of this interaction and unification of parts is the emergence of a new situation and a change in the
factors which are doing the interaction. These are all aspects of the same process and go on simultaneously.
Thus the need to understand unity arises because unity is the basis of control, and control cannot be effective
without it.
Leadership
Two papers were written by Miss follet on leadership. One was entitled “Leader and Expert” and the other
“Some Discrepancies in Leadership Theory and Practice.” Follet held the assumption that the leader not only
influences Ws group, but is also influenced by it. Thus, a reciprocal relationship is the main characteristic of
leadership. Besides, the leader must also be influenced by the expert within the organization. Secondly, Follet
opined that leadership depends on power which, in turn, manifests the combined capacities of a group. We
get power through effective relationship patterns alone. A leader should not be conceived as a man who asserts
his individual will, but as the one who knows how to relate to different personal working with him, so that.
All these Persons may develop into a driving force. A good leader creates group power rather than exercise
personal power. Follet suggested that the form of organization towards which business is tending discourages
the arbitrary use of power, because here we find a system based neither on equality nor on arbitrary authority,
but on functional unity. In such a system, while making decisions, the voice of the expert is taken into account
by the leader. The leader cannot just reject an advice; in fact, his major function in the organization is to
coordinate the different parts and weld them into effective unity.
On the accepted theory of leadership’ that the leader has a compelling personality, wields personal power and
constrains others to do his will, Follet suggested that orders do not always directly emerge from the leader’s
wishes; they arise from the work situation, and the subordinates may contribute to this situation. From this it
follows that leadership based on personality may continue to exist, but in the best organized firms, leadership

18
is based on function which may move from one person in the group to another as the circumstances change
and one function or the other becomes vital at a given moment. In brief, leadership in such a situation goes
to the man with the largest knowledge of the situation, who understands its total significance and who can see
it through. Agreeing with Fayol and Sheldon, Follet stressed the significance of the fact that leaders are not
just born, but in fact they could be developed through education in the process of understanding group
dynamics and human behaviour.
Individualism in a Planned Society
The economic interdependence of men is a fact which is today universally recognized. This recognition makes
the collective planning on a national or even an international level imperative. Although favouring this view,
Follet observed that central planning imposed from tile national level over the local level was doomed to failure.
She believed that coercion was not the opposite of laissez faire. The opposite of laissez faire is coordination,
and the need of the moment was to search for the best methods of coordination. National planning should be
a mechanism to facilitate the coordinating process. Follet offered four fundamental principles for national and
international planning. These are being referred to as follows:
1. Coordination by direct contact of the responsible people concerned, i.e., national planning should provide
for direct contact between the responsible heads of industry, instead of up and do the line through the
chief executive, under such a system, individual freedom would be safely guarded and the heads of
industry would form their own control.
2. Coordination in the early stages: by this, Follet meant that direct contact must begin, in the formative
stages of the policy process, because policy formulation and policy adjustment are separate processes and
therefore the process policy adjusting cannot begin after the separate policies have been designed. This
is a vital principle which is largely ignored in the schemes for nation planning.
3. Coordination as the reciprocal relating of all the factors in a situation shows what the process of coordination
is. If this principle is applied in national planning and to the industrial organizations of a country, they
would learn how to interweave the points of view and their various policies. Thus the fullest possible
scope to individualism will be given in this scheme of coordination
4. Coordination as a continuing process: only through continuous coordination machinery, problems can be
solved in a ration manner.
Miss Follet emphasized that the aforesaid principles of coordination must be underpinned by information based
on continuous research. This information would be a form of control, for there would be a tendency to act
in accordance with inf6rmation, give if it is accepted as accurate. She further opined that national planning, if
based on the principle of the interpenetration of authority instead of a super authority, could provide scope
for individual initiative.
Management as a Profession
Miss Follet wrote mother important paper entitled “How Much Business Management Develop in order to
Become Profession.” One of her criteria for a profession was that management must be regarded as a function
or service to the community and not be exercised solely for private gain. She attacked the old idea that a
business man made money for him in the daytime and then render ad service to the community after amassing
enough money to afford being unselfish. She maintained that a profession is exercised as one of the necessary
functions of society and is not an attempt made for purely private gain. .The services of business men are as
essential as those of doctors, lawyers, teachers and engineers. The real service of business men should not
merely be production but the welfare of the society which is as important as the process of production.

19
Although personal standard is important, yet it must be broadened, into group standards, and these standards
must be developed, enriched and maintained. The business men should educate the public to accept these
standards. In case of a clash between the company and professional standards, an integration between the two
should be facilitated.
The second criterion of a profession advanced by Follet was that business must be based on the application
of an accepted and proven body of knowledge and principles. This involves intensive and continuous research
and is likely to facilitate standardization of Managerial methods and techniques. To profit from such an
experience, each company should have a management research analyst whose duties should be to classify and
interpret managerial experiences. She stressed that in order to develop standards of service, managers must
themselves play a major role. A manager must contribute in the development of his profession by not only
taking active part in management associations, but by every act that he performs during the day, i.e., the way
of taking decisions, of giving orders and the way in which he organizes committees in his establishment. Mary
Parker Follet was a true management philosopher. The sources, of Follet’s ideas are found in, the thinking of
her time. As she moved about consulting with various industrial and political leaders, she recognized that a new
principle of association was needed, because men had not yet learnt how to live together. This new principle
she called the “group concept” which, in her opinion, would become the basis for future industrial systems.
Mary Parker Follet was a pioneer who helped bridge the gap between the mechanistic approach of Taylor and
the contemporary approach of human relations. She, more than anyone else, was responsible for lending
credence to the group process approach to managerial problem solving and for underscoring the eufunctions
of organizational conflict.

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 Chapter - 5

ELTON MAYO
ELTON MAYO was born in 1880 at Adelaide, Australia. In his search for a profession, Mayo ranged widely
in space and experience. He changed many professions and even travelled from Scotland to West Africa and
back to Australia in search of a suitable career. From the printing business, he turned to the study of Psycho-
logy at Adelaide University. At the end of World War I, he organized a psychiatric treatment programme along
with a collaborator for dealing with soldiers suffering from shell shock. His work in this direction was so
successful that it led to his appointment in 1919 to the newly established chair of philosophy at the University
of Queensland.
Mayo’s first research in human relations in industry which he began while working at the University of
Pennsylvania was supported by Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations’ grants from the United States.
The fruitful and productive period of his life began in 1920 when he became a Professor of Industrial Research
at Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. It was here that Mayo started the first
intensive human relations study, known as ‘Hawthorne Experiments’ conducted at the Hawthorne plant of
Western Electrical Company (1924-1932). The purpose of the research was to measure the effect of improved
lighting on workers’ output, and psychological arid social problems of industrial workers. The aim from the
beginning was to follow these problems wherever they led, without regard ‘to customary disciplinary boundaries.
In 1927, Mayo launched the now famous Western Electrical Research Programme along with Fritz Roethlisberger.
His assistants William Dickson, T. North Whitehead and many others from Western Electrical Company also
participated in this great venture. Dr. Mayo, as the Director of the programme, during the course of the study,
made important contributions to the designs of the research programme and to the interpretations of the
results. Since Mayo was interested in the problems of individual adjustment, he recognized the necessity of
examining such individual problems in the context of organizational and social structure.
Elton Mayo was influenced particularly by the writings of the psychologist; Pierre Janet and Sigmund Freud,
Therefore, his major role in Hawthorne studies was to emphasize the desirability of studying the workers’
behaviour from different dimensions, i.e., from psychological, physical, economic and physiological angles. This
he called the clinical method. He also combined an interest in psychoneurosis and what he termed as obsessive
thinking.
From this research a new theory of human behaviour in organization was evolved which served as inspiration
for scores of empirical studies of human behaviour in organizations and for new approaches to administrative
education. In fact, Hawthorne studies are a historical landmark in administrative thought, since they helped in
developing the Human Relations school of organization.
The “Great Illumination” (1924-1927)
The Hawthorne study was conducted in different phases. The first attempt was to see how output could be
increased by changing the physical working conditions of the worker. The researchers placed five girls in a
separate Relay Assembly Test Room and an observer was also kept in the same room to serve t and to keep
accurate records. In, the beginning, the physical condition of the girls was maintained to accustom them to the
test room and then slowly, the conditions or work were changed to mark the effect of this change on the output.
Some of these changes being rest periods of different length and number, shorter work days, shorter work
weeks, soup or coffee at the morning, coffee breaks and so on. With each change, the effect was consistent.

21
This continued for one and a half years and then it was decided to return to the original conditions at the
beginning of the experiments. As a result, the output fell a little but soon it rose very sharply, so much so that
despite the decline in hours of work, it brought weekly output to its peak. The general upward trend in output
without making any change in the physical conditions puzzled the researchers. But soon they found the clue.
It was due to the incentive wage plan that the output rose.
Then two more experiments were conducted, but this time wage plan was isolated. At this stage, five girls were
organized into a second Relay Assembly Test Room which was identical to the first one. The women in this
room were operators who had always been paid on an individual piece work basis. The system continued for
some time and then the experiment convinced the researchers that neither wage incentives alone nor all the
changes in the physical conditions could help in improving the output. The explanation eventually given was
that the girls experienced a tremendous increase in work satisfaction because they had greater freedom in their
working environment. In spite of all other factors being constant, the change came in human attitudes and
sentiments. These changes were in the nature of supervision attention and cooperation.
Previously the girls worked under strict supervision: they were not allowed to talk freely with each other but
when the experiment was conducted, the atmosphere changed. It was a more relazed and congenial atmosphere.
The communication system between the researchers and the workers was extremely effective. The girls were
allowed to talk freely and the supervisors also took a personal interest in each girl and showed pride in the
record of the group. The supervisors even discussed in advance the changes in the conditions with the girls;
they even altered the social situation of the group in order to keep the major variables in the situation constant.
The second important factor was that tie girls received more attention. They even became the focus of
considerable attention from top management. This became a source of pride for them.
Lastly, they developed an informal cooperative group. They not only cooperated with the researchers but even
with each other. They developed increasing interpersonal relationship even while working, since they could talk
freely and discuss amongst them each other’s personal problems.
Mayo’s generalization was that work satisfaction depends to a large extent on the informal social pattern of
the work group. Where norms of cooperativeness between workers and supervisors are developed, physical
working conditions and monetary incentives have little value or impact. Workers, according to Mayo, twee
activated by a logic of sentiment, whereas management is concerned with the logic of cost and efficiency. In
such a situation, conflict inevitable, sinless the differences are understood and solved.
This network of experiments has been hailed as the “great illumination,” since it has shown light to industrial
psychologist and engineers who had earlier been preaching efficiency only in accordance dance with F.W.
Taylor’s concept of Scientific Management.
Human Altitudes and Sentiments (1928-1931)
In 1928, a second study was conducted in the same plant to study the attitudes and sentiments of workers.
At this stage, interviews were taken of the employees in which the interviewer had a minor role. The job of
the interviewer was to listen attentively and display a real interest in everything the employee said without
suggesting an answer.
During the course of the interview programme, it was found that at times, there was no direct relation between
the complaint and the object towards which it was made. Certain complaints were due to hidden and unconscious
disturbances in an employee’s situations, which could only be solved by a further study of the person and his
external and internal conditions.

22
This experiment also proved the impact of human relation in an organization. The employees appreciated being
recognized as individuals, having an equal voice with management in making comments on the organizational
dynamics. They realized their importance and worth, since they were allowed to express themselves freely and
at length. They were convinced that by such free expressions, conditions in the company had improved.
The interview programme also brought a change in the attitude of the supervisors, because they knew that their
method of supervision had been made the subject of research and that their subordinates were invited to
express their opinions about them.
Lastly, the method proved to the interviewers that they had acquired a new and improved way of understanding
and dealing with their fellow men. They realized that social structure is a web of human relations bound
together by a system of sentiments.
Social Organization vs. Disorganized Hypothesis (1931-32)
The third stage of the investigation was to observe a group performing a task in a natural setting, i.e., a non-
experimental situation. Here the observation method was employed by the researchers.
A number of employees including wiremen, solderers and inspectors worked in a project known as Bank
Wiring Observation Room under a constant observation and their outputs were recorded.
It was found that the group had set a standard for output and this was exceeded by any individual, because
whoever exceeded the informal group standard was subject to strong social pressure. Even the attitude of the
members of the group towards the company’s financial scheme was one of indifference because some of the
ablest Workers were among the lower producers. In spite of the fact that their output was carefully related to
their wages, they deliberately restricted their output and held down their wages. Their purpose was not to obtain
more money but they wanted to give the impression of a uniform rate of output. They were highly integrated
with their own social structure and code of behaviour. This code was composed of solidarity on the part of
the group against management. They had developed certain ideas concerning individual behaviour. These
included the points that too much work should not be done so that their rates may not go down, nor very little
work be done, for that would amount to chiselling. A complaint of an associate or anything detrimental to the
interest of an associate should be hidden from the supervisors and, lastly, social distance or a feeling of
officiousness should not be maintained. This shows that there was little recognition of the organization’s formal
allocation of roles.
Mayo contended that the importance of informal social grouping determines the levels of output. The experiment
has further helped in criticizing the assumptions of classical economists that mankind is a horde of unorganized
individuals actuated by self-interest.
The Social Problem
After a long research during the intervening period at Harvard, Mayo concluded that society, whatever its
culture might be, must solve two problems. These two problems related to satisfying) economic needs of the
people and maintaining continuous social cooperation. But modern industrial societies, according to Mayo, paid
attention only to the first problem without caring for the second. Instead of cooperation in the society between
groups, we find jealousy, hatred and suspicion. Instead of communication, there is a complete breakdown of
values of society. For Mayo, one of the major tasks of management is to organize spontaneous cooperation,
thereby preventing the further breakdown of society. From the completion of the Hawthorne experiment to
his death in 1949, Mayo was interested in discovering how spontaneous cooperation could be achieved between
the management and the workers.

23
The next problem faced by industrial societies related to the security of the individual. No longer a person is
sure that the skill he has learnt and through which he is earning his livelihood will be needed tomorrow.
Mayo also held that contemporary politics has also hindered the smooth development of social relationships
among groups.
Skill as a Way of Learning
Mayo observed that in the modern world, social skills have lagged behind the technical skills,. With’ the result
that in behavioural sciences, skill and knowledge, instead of helping each other, seem to have difficulty in
getting on together.
Administrative theorists pay more attention to knowledge rather than to skill, and more particularly to the
social skill. The social skills, according to Mayo, are those through which the administrator becomes the
guardian or preserver of morale through the function of maintaining a condition of equilibrium which will
preserve the social values existing in a cooperative system.
Although social skill is quite different from the specialist skill, yet these are the skills of the successful practical
administrator. Mayo felt that due to the scientific development, our administrators have developed mainly
specialized skills. Ironically, their technical competence is accompanied by utter social incompetence. They do
not know how to tackle the workers by creating cooperative feelings and by developing informal patterns of
behaviour. They fail to understand that the basic need of workers is to develop a cooperative ‘social relationship.
The worker is no more an economic man motivated solely by his pay cheque.
Mayo held that in order to overcome ignorance and to develop the required social skill, a new approach to
administrative education is required. The universities must recognize that careful training is a prerequisite for
developing administrators capable of dealing with human problems.
Contribution of the Hawthorne Studies
The Hawthorne studies, in their various phases, have contributed to organization theory by way of formulating
a number of propositions regarding the nature of the worker and his work. This contribution may briefly be
stated as follows:
1. The significance of the study was in discovering the phenomenon of informal organization which, it is now
realized, exists in every society.
2. The study has confirmed the importance of informal social groups in increasing the levels of output.
3. The study has revealed that the worker is no more an “economic man” motivated by his pay cheques.
It has come as a blow to Taylor’s concept of man in an organization.
4. The demonstration of the importance of the superior’s role in the equation of morale and productivity.
5. The study has led to the growth and development of the human relations approach in personnel
administration. It has emphasized the need for taking in o account the facts, the attitudes and sentiments
of the worker and of instilling in him a sense a belonging as an important contributing member of the
enterprise.
6. In the field of Industrial Sociology, the Hawthorne study has made pioneering contribution. Some, authorities
trace the development of this new field of study to the descriptive studies of informal groups undertaken
in the final phases of the Hawthorne research.

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7. Lastly, there has been considerable influence of the study on the general teaching and practice of Industrial
Management particularly in the adoption of case method of teaching.
It may be noted that Elton Mayo, in spite of being known as the father of r search on human problems of
industry, had become a main target of attack from his critics.
Mayo sought to achieve organizational harmony through a subordination of individual and group interest by
the administrative elites. There was no place for conflict in his philosophy. He simply observed that there is
so much destructive conflict that it Is well t seek better ways of handling human problems.
Mayo has been charged with being anti-union. He is criticized for being indifferent to trade unions. In his most
productive period of work with Western Electrical Company, the company had only a weak union. In spite of
the fact that unions had become a Prominent part of the industrial scene long before his death, Mayo neither
thought that they fundamentally altered human problems of Industry nor did he integrate unions into his
thinking about industry.
Mayo and Taylor Compared
Reinhard Bendix in his most popular book, Work and Authority in Industry, has attempted to compare Taylor
with Mayo. He opined that the ideal of cooperation inspiring the employee representation plans and the open
shop Campaign of the 1920s was identical with Mayo’s concept of cooperation in industry. Mayo’s neglect of
trade unions and their role in industry is in tune with Taylor’s open, shop campaign.
Although Mayo propounded his ideas on “human relations” after the Hawthorne experiment, yet as Bendix
has observed, even before that, i.e., during the 1920s, some managers of industrial plants had pointed out that
financial incentive was not the only factor motivating workers to work. The only difference was that nobody
had till then attempted to study the impact of nor-financial variables on human motivation. Mayo was the first
person to study these phenomena scientifically, so the whole credit for laying the foundation of Human
Relations movement goes to him.
Although Mayo belonged to the Human Relations school and Taylor to the Scientific Management, yet they
had much in common. Firstly, both of them believed that the approach of management should be based on
science. Secondly, Mayo held that administrative elite could help in bringing industrial harmony and increased
production. Likewise, Taylor’s concept of management elite by a mental revolution could help in increasing
wages as well as profits.
Thirdly, both Taylor and Mayo were occupied with the task of discovering the causes of low productivity or
output restrictions. Both wore against industrial conflicts, since in their view, such conflicts obstructed the
efficient working of organizations. For them, increased cooperation of employees and workers was a must.
Lastly, they both attributed the output restrictions of workers to the mistaken view of labour and management.
However, despite certain similarities in their approaches, Taylor and Mayo differed on many important issues.
Taylor viewed man in an organization as an isolated individual, who is engaged in nurturing his own self-
interest. Mayo, on the other hand, disagreed with the assumption of Taylor and instead emphasized the
significance of human relations in an organization,
Secondly, Taylor assumed that man thinks rationally and logically while working in arts organization, whereas
Mayo pointed out that most people do not think logically or systematically all the time. Logical thinking and
self-interest appears only when social association fails.
Thirdly, Mayo advocated for an analysis of wants and necessities of employers as well as employees, whereas
Taylor’s concern was only with the motivation of workers.

25
Lastly, Taylor regarded workers’ group as being completely hostile to management, but Mayo did not go with
this assumption. His view of the managerial task may be defined as the endeavour to provide an organizational
environment in which employees can fulfil their eager human desire for cooperative activity.
It becomes evident from Bendix’s analysis that Taylor neglected the psychological and sociological variables
of organizational behaviour. In his view, these variables were not relevant to the problems of productivity. In
fact, Mayo was also not very successful in providing answers to all organizational problems such as informal
organizations or conflict of interest, but he was a few steps ahead of Taylor in underlining the possible related
variables in organization behaviour.
For the behavioural school, neither Taylor nor Mayo has been able to develop a multi-dimensional approach
for dealing with human problems, yet it cannot overlook the impact of these two ,thinkers on administrative
thought.
Conclusion
Mayo’s contribution to administrative thought has been pheno-menal. Although he left the detailed analysis and
presentation of the results of Hawthorne studies to his associates, ‘yet he himself brought to light the problems
of modern industry.
His impact has been tremendous both on management and on academics. At a time when management was
developing new techniques and emphasized on systems as the way to better management, Mayo was questioning
the basis on which industrial performance rested.
Mayo led to fuller realization and understanding of the human factors in work situations. His work also led
to an emphasis on the importance of an adequate communication system, particularly upwards.
Mayo’s influence in the development of industrial sociology and psychology is enormous. He has also stimulated
men who have made major contributions to research and theory.
The complete writings of Mayo are concerned with two basic ideas, one dealing with the nature of society and
the other dealing with the problems of individuals. His argument was that the destruction of traditional society
has occurred on account of the industrial revolution. The break down in the traditional understanding has led
to widespread conflict in industries as well as in societies. The only solution to the problem is to build an
adaptive society in which an administrative elite trained in social understanding and skills would resolve human
as well as technical problem.

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 Chapter - 6

CHESTER BARNARD
Barnard was inspired by the work o Sheldon, Mayo, Follet, B. Donham, Alfred North Whitehead and A.
Lawrence Lowell. Although these men varied considerably in their academic interest, they were all concerned
in developing a new conceptual scheme to explain the behavior of men in modern organizations. Barnard was
not directly involved in the Western Electrical experiments conducted mainly at the Hawthorne plant, but his
association with Elton mayo and the latter’s colleagues at the Harvard Business school had an important bearing
onhis ideas.
Barnard is most well-known for his original treatise, the Functions of the Executive. His purpose in writing this
book was twofold: (a) to set forth a theory of cooperation and organization; and (b) to present a description
of the executive process.
The Efficacy of Cooperation
Barnard begins his analysis from the premise that individuals must cooperate. An individual can achieve little
or nothing at all by himself, since his physical, biological and psychological powers are such as to be a limitation
on his achievements. People come into large or small groups to achieve ends which would be impossible for
them to achieve of individuals. Barnard has attempted to construct a comprehensive theory of cooperative
behaviour in formal organizations. He observes that a formal organization involves that kind of operation
among men which is conscious, deliberate and purposeful. Such a cooperation is omnipresent and inescapable
nowadays so that it is usually contrasted only with “individualism,” as if there were no other processes of
cooperation.
Organization is the result of opposing forces and it operates in the context of such opposing forces. Barnard
views an organization as cooperative system—an open-ended natural dynamic system of cooperative effort
which must secure its objectives as well as cooperation of individual .contributors. In Barnard’s opinion, an
organization must be both effective and efficient. By efficiency he means provision of satisfaction which is
sufficient to ensure that cooperative efforts are forthcoming, while effectiveness relates to the achievement of
aim set by the organization.
There are three requisites of a cooperative system:
a. A common impersonal organizational purpose;
b. To achieve the purpose and in order to secure individual’s initiative, his motives need to be satisfied. His
satisfaction should outweigh the efforts and sacrifices which he makes;
c. The processes of communication by which these opposite poles of the system of cooperative effort would
be brought into dynamic equilibrium.
Barnard repeatedly emphasized the importance of cooperation and how individual be induced to cooperate in
an organization. This led to his emphasis on the phenomenon of motivation in an organization.
Formal and Informal Organization
According to Barnard, an organization comes into being when there are persons able to communicate with each
other, willing to cooperate with each other and; lastly, are consented to accomplish a common purpose. In brief,

27
a formal organization is a system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons. Thus,
the existence of an organization, in Barnard’s view, presupposes three elements:
1. Willingness in Cooperate: The individuals working in an organization should be willing to cooperate with
each other. Such a willingness is indispensable in a cooperative endeavour. An individual can best cooperate
and his activities can best be coordinated if he first surrenders his personal act as a contribution to the
impersonal systems of act.
A second factor which is equally important is that willingness of the individual cannot be spontaneous or
constant in degree. It requires incentives to cooperate in the form of inducements given to him by the
organization.
1. Common Purpose or Objective: Willingness to cooperate is meaningless without a common purpose or
objective. Hence Barnard laid emphasis on establishing a common purpose for the existence of organization.
Since purpose provides direction for effort, it must be acceptable to the people involved. Only then
cooperation among the members of the organization can be anticipated.
It is frequently assumed that a common purpose and individual motives are identical in an organizational
setting. Barnard, on the other hand, observes that individual motives, are internal and personal, whereas
common purpose is external and impersonal. Organizations once established may change their unifying purpose
in due course of time.
2. Communication: The third important prerequisite for the existence of an organization is communication.
A common purpose must be commonly known and this can be done only through the mechanism
communication. In the organization theory, communication occupies a central place, because the structure,
extensiveness and scope of organizations are entirely determined by communication techniques.
Communication is easy and face to face in a small organization, but in a large organization, it becomes more
complex and impersonal. Apart from the formal organization, there exists an informal organization, which deals
with relationship and communication that the formal structure is unable to handle effectively. Barnard specifically
observes;
“The characteristic of these contacts or interactions is that they occur and continue or are repeated without
any specific conscious joint purpose. The contact may be accidental or incidental to organized activities, or arise
from some personal desire or gregarious instinct; it may be friendly or hostile.”
Informal organizations have two important effects: (a) They establish certain attitudes, understanding, customs,
habits, institutions; and (b) create the conditions under which formal organization may arise.
Thus it is important to underscore the fact that the formal organization and the informal organization are
interdependent aspects of the same phenomenon. One creates the other.
The Mechanism of Communication
A cooperative system is held together by the ability of contributors to communicate with each other. Hence,
according to Barnard, the primary function of an executive is to establish a communication system through
which authority could be easily exercised.
Barnard has referred to certain conditions or principles which have an impact on the degree of effectiveness
of authority. he suggests that the following guidelines should be followed for making authority effective:
1. The channel of Communication must be definitely Itrio %xl by all, and the lines of authority must be
definitely established.

28
2. These channels must be formally laid down. Everyone .., must report to someone,’ and. everyone must
be subordinate someone.
3. The channel of communication must be as direct or short , as possible: The shorter the line, the greater
the speed and the less the error.
4. The complete line of communication should be used. I: should go through all stages in’ the channel, i.e.,
from source to destination.
5. Persons serving as managers in the communication channel must have adequate knowledge. They should
have competence and general ability with reference to the work of the entire organization.
6. The channel of communication should not be disturbed when the organization is to function. This requires
wide provisions for the filling up of temporary vacancies arising cruel; incapacity or absence of the
incumbent.
7. The last notable factor in a communication system is that every communication should be authenticated,
that is it must come from points where the necessary authority is known to exist.
The application of these principles is easy in a simple organization, but difficult in a complex organization.
Balancing the Positive and Negative Motivations
Barnard’s major contribution to administrative behaviour is the theory of the growth and survival of organization
based on the interactions of individual’s motivational mechanism. This has been further developed by Herbert
A. Simon in what he called the “Barnard-Simon Equilibrium Model.” According to Barnard, each participant
in an organization is both positively and negatively motivated to remain in the system. He called the positive
motivations the “inducements” provided by the organization in the form of wages and pleasant associates to
the participants. Negative motivations, on the other hand, have been referred to as the contributions provided
by the participants to the organization. Barnard observed that generally a participant would only remain in the
organization if this inducements outweighed his contribution on his personal utility scale. In his analysis of the
contribution-satisfaction equilibrium model, Barnard observed that the principle of satisfactory exchange is to
“give” as far as possible what is less valuable to you and more valuable to the receiver and to “receive” what
is more valuable to you and less to the giver. Thus the persistence of cooperation depends on its effectiveness
in accomplishing the cooperative purpose, and its efficiency in satisfying the individual’s motives.
Acceptance as the basis of Legitimacy of Authority
Barnard defines authority as “the character of an order in a formal organization by virtue of which it is
accepted, by a contributor to or ‘member’ of the organization, as governing the action he contributes”. Two’
vital points emerge from his definition:
1. Barnard makes authority an inherent part of, the organization system, and not something conferred from
above.
2. It emphasizes the point of acceptance as being essential in an authority relationship. The decision to obey
a command lies with the person to whom it is addressed.
Further, Barnard held that authority was exercised though communication and communication will be accepted
as authoritative if it fulfils four essential conditions, viz.,
1. Intelligibility;
2. Consistency with the purpose of the organization;

29
3. Compatibility with the personal interests of those to whom the order is addressed; and
4. Feasibility.
Thus the acceptance of authority depends on an understanding and a belief that the order is not inconsistent
with the aims of the organization and with the general aims of the individuals and then physical and mental
ability to comply with the command. In addition, the acceptance of authority is facilitated by the “zone of
Indifference” of individual contributors functioning in the organization. For each individual, there is a certain
area within which he accepts authority willingly. This area is determined by experienced executives who give
only those orders which are easily obeyed. To give an order that cannot or will not be obeyed is a sure way
for him to lose the “authority” he is supposed to possess.
On the other hand, people working in an organization will generally grant much greater authority outside the
usual zone of indifference to those who have ability, knowledge and understanding. Besides, the authority of
organizational superiors is validated by their subordinates only if it is clear that the superiors feel their
responsibility towards the organization.
Varied Bases of Responsibility
Since authority commensurates with responsibility, Barnard has rightly emphasized the morality concept of
authority. Responsibility has been defined by him as the power of a particular private Code of morals to control
the conduct of the individual in the presence of strong contrary desires or impulses. Responsibility is not
determined by any one single code, but by a complex set of many codes moral, legal, technical, professional,
etc., so it is difficult for a man to be responsible With respect to all of them. Secondly, these codes are less
effective because of external sanctions.
Barnard further says that since there exist several or many private codes, governing the conduct of individuals,
conflicts are likely to emerge as a result of this situation. These conflicts are acute and serious particularly
between codes having substantially equal validity or power. The result of such conflicts may affect organization
in three ways:
1. There is a paralysis of action, accompanied by tension, frustration, blockade in decision and lack of
confidence.
2. Since there is obedience to one code and violation to the other, this leads to a feeling of guilt, discomfort,
dissatisfaction and loss of self-respect.
3. The non-conformance of one code may lead to its destruction, unless the external forces are strong enough
to keep it alive.
Barnard concludes his analysis of executive responsibility by emphasizing the role of morality in an organization.
Every individual possesses personal moral codes and when he is placed in an executive position, certain
additional codes are placed on him which he has to comply with.
Favourable Factors in Decision-making
It may be pertinent to mention that about seven years prior to Simon’s Administrative Behavior had appeared
on the scene, Barnard had underscored the significance of decision-making model as a means of understanding
organizational dynamics, Barnard viewed organizations as system of decision-making as well as of communication.
Decision-making in an organization is much more logical and rational than an individual making personal
decisions.

30
When decisions are taken, two elements are present, viz., the end or the objectives and the means to accomplish
these objectives. Decisions affect the means as well as the ends, therefore they should be as much rational and
logical as possible.
The decision-maker, as Barnard has observed, must distinguish between the relevant parts affecting the organization
and between the irrelevant or hostile parts. For this, decision-making requires analysis of situations through
which the strategic factors may be determined. There are certain elements in an organization which affect the
decision-making process and which need to be controlled. These elements should either be modified or some
new elements be supplied which are missing.
The Functions of the Executive
Executive positions imply a complex morality and require a high capacity of responsibility. This responsibility
is operationalized through a series of specified and unspecified functions of the executive which have been
outlined by Chester Barnard as follows:
1. Maintaining communication in organization by:
a. Determining the scheme of organization;
b. Fostering loyalty in subordinates; and
c. Maintaining the informal system;
2. Obtaining essential services from subordinates by:
a. Correct selection of individuals;
b. Provision of necessary inducements, “maintaining their morale, providing incentives, supervision and
training; and
3. Formulating purposes and objectives at all levels.
Executive responsibility is thus the capacity by which the managers are compelled to bind the wills of men
for the accomplishment of the purpose of the organization.
Conclusion
While assessing the contribution of Barnard, it is significant to note that Barnard presented his ideas on
administrative systems at a time when studies resulting from the Hawthorne experiments were viewed as an
antithesis to the Scientific Management of Fralerik Taylor. In a way, The Functions of the Executive is a direct
out of Barnard’s failure to find an adequate explanation of his executive experience in traditional organization
theory or economic theory. The data and ideas used by Barnard have the, concept of economic man obsolete,
and advanced evidenced the scientific and rationalist models of organization required revision.
Since Barnard was oriented by his experience at the executive level and was more interested in the organization
in relation to its environment, the first great contribution of his monumental work, The Functions of the
Executive, was the construction of a total theory of organization which provided an alternative to the Fayol
Model. From the theory provided by him, it is not easy to distinguish between concepts which Barnard
invented and those which he reshaped, developed, and extended in his ambition to construct a complete theory.
Notably, Chester Barnard underscored, what he called, “acceptance theory” of authority, whereby leadership
rested on the crucial element of acceptance. In all this, Barnard was importantly original. He summarized his
own contribute ion after publication in terms of principal “structural” and “dynamic” concepts. The full

31
originality of his work thinly scattered and carefully recorded can only be fully appreciated by reading and re-
reading his text.
In public and private administration, behavioural approach can be traced back to Chester Barnard. Besides, he
was one of the pioneering management authorities to stress the communication responsibilities of the executives,
to analyze the role of executives, and to develop systematically an analysis of incentive systems in organization.
Barnard’s influence has extended to the many empirical historical studies of organization made by students as
well as practitioners of administration. His voice is still authoritative because wisdom came from a combination
of intellect and experience.

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 Chapter - 7

HERBERT SIMON
HERBERTA A. SIMON is an American social scientist who began his career in local government. His early
interest of evaluating the efficiency of different methods of local administration led him to the new field of
“operation research”.
Simon was immensely influenced by the writings of Chester Barnard and by Barnard himself as a person. It
is not surprising that may of Barnard’s ideas are found in Simon’s early works, viz., Administrative Behaviour
(1947) and Public Administration (1951) which he wrote in collaboration with Donald Smithburg and Victor
Thompson.
In recent years Simon has been engaged in fundamental research into the processes of decision-making, using
electronic computers to simulate human thinking. He has deliberately turned away from other vital aspects of
administrative and organizational behavior. Now, he has become one of the world’s outstanding pioneers in
psychological research.
Attack on “Proverbs” of Administration
In 1946, Herbert Simon attacked the orthodox principles of administration, formulated by classical theorists,
as mere provrebs. Simon pointed out that in these principles it was assumed that administrative efficiency
would increase if (1) specialization was increased; (2) Members in an organization were arranged in a hierarchy
which preserved unity of command; (3) limit was imposed to the number of subordinates reporting to an
administrator; and lastly (4) workers were grouped according to the classifications of purpose, place, people and
process. In Simon’s view, these assumptions were not “principles” at all, since there was a wide gap between
the principles prescribed and their effective practice. A brief reference to some of the objections made by
Simon in this context is being made below.
Specialization:
Specialization: Administrative efficiency is supposed to increase with an increase in specialization. But, according
to Simon, specialization is not a condition of efficient administration. It is a characteristic of most group effort.
Specialization merely means that different person are doing different things. The real problem of administration
is not specialization, but specializing in a particular manner and direction that may lead to administrative
efficiency. Administrative efficiency, according to Simon, can only be increased by specialization of the task
among the group in the direction that will lead to greater efficiency.
Unity of Command: According to Simon, there is a notable contradiction between specialization and unity of
command. It is physically impossible for a man to obey two contradictory commands as presumed by Gulick
in his principle. The main limitation of this principle is that it is incompatible with the principle of specialization.
Subordinates accept orders not only from their formal superiors but also from all sorts of Specialists. In such
a situation unity of command does not exist.
The principle of ’ unity of command is more defensible when narrowed down to the following: “In case two
authoritative commands conflict, there should be a single determinate person whom the subordinate is expected
to obey; and the sanction of authority should be applied against the subordinate to that one person.”

33
Even in its limited form the principle of unity of command solves few problems. It leaves unsettled the very
important question of ’ how authority should be zoned in a particular organization and through what channels
it should be exercised.
The Span of Control: Simon has subjected the concept of “span of control” to further evaluation. He observes
that limiting the number of subordinates reporting directly to one superior can, in a large organization, cause
excessive red tape. This is mainly because for each contact between organization members, the locus of
decision must be carried upward until a common superior is found. But if an organization is large this will
involve a cumbersome and time-conssuming process. Conversely, by increasing the span of control of the
administrator, his control over subordinates may be weakened. Thus both the increase and decrease in span of
control have undesirable consequences which leads to no agreement as to the number, of subordinates who
should work under an administrator.
The Basis of Organization Groupings: It is supposed under the classical theory that administrative efficiency
increases by grouping workers according to four principles: (a) purpose, (b) process, (c) place, and (d) people.
But Simon holds that these principles set forth by Gulick are internally inconsistent with the principle of
specialization. A closer study of the situation shows that there are fundamental ambiguities in the meanings
of the key terms, “purpose”, “process,” “person,” and “place.”
Purpose and process have very little difference between themselves. Purpose may be roughly defined as the
objective achieved through an activity known as process. So purpose and process cannot be strictly separated.
Similarly person and place are not separate from purpose. They are a part of it. Simon further observes that
objectives of an administrative organization are phrased in terms of a service to be provided and an area for
which it is provided. When one basis of organization is selected, the other three are sacrificed. Thus there is
no way to determine which method ‘of organization is most appropriate in a given situation.
The Behavioural Approach
In the area of administrative studies, Herbert Simon has been the most pioneering behavioural scientist.
However, he has agreed that “administrative behaviour” is only a part of the behavioural science movement,
and it differs only in subject matter from other behavioural sciences such as Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology
and political behaviour. In administrative studies, the behavioural approach is distinguished from the traditional
structural approach in the following areas: (i) the behavioural literature is descriptive; (ii) it stresses adopting
operational definitions of terms and use of empirical studies based on rigorous methods such as field observation
controlled field experiments and laboratory studies of organization like groups; (iii) generally the behavioural
studies employ the tools of mathematization and quantification and are concerned with the exercise of theory-
building; and (iv) they are interdisciplinary in character and make ample use of models and methodology of
other social sciences.
In the field of administrative behaviour, major studies have pertained to bureaucracy, human relations, motivation
and, decision making. In the case of the last two, Simon’s contribution has been outstanding.
The Focus on Decision-Making
Simon’s central interest lies in the decision making process which, to him, is the core ‘of all administrative
activity. The task of deciding pervades the entire administrative organization and a general theory of
administration’ must include principles, of organization so that correct decisions may be insured. To Simon the
rational decision-making process is an ideal and organizations consist of many non-rational factors. Every
investigation should be designed in such a way that rationality in decision-making will be maximized and non-
rational aspects minimized.

34
The decisions which the organization makes for an individual generally include specifying his functions, allocating
authority and setting limits to his choice. This is done in order to ‘coordinate the activities of the individuals
working in an organization. But the process of decision does not come to an end by simply determining the
general purpose of an organization. In fact, decision-making involves the execution of decisions in which even
a person working at the lowest levels of hierarchy has an, essential role to play in the accomplishment of the
organization’s objectives. Considering the crucial significance of the decision-making process, Simon has rightly
termed decision-making as the “heart” of administration.
The Distinction between Facts and Values
According to Simon, any rational decision may be viewed as a conclusion reached from certain premises. These
premises are of two different kinds—values and facts. The behaviour of a rational person can be controlled if
the value and factual premises upon which he bases his decision are specified for him. This control over the
person in be complete or even partial. It is complete if all the premises are specified and it is partial if some
are left to his discretion.
Simon further says that there is one important difference between permitting a discretion based on value
premises and a discretion based on factual premises. The latter can always be evaluated as “correct” or
“incorrect” in an objective and empirical sense, whereas the adjective “correct” and “incorrect” cannot be
applied to value premises. If only factual premises are left to a subordinate’s discretion, there is only one
decision which he can correctly. Make Conversely, if value premises are left to the subordinate’s discretion, the
“correctness” of his decision will depend upon the value premise he selects, and there is no universally
accepted criterion of right or wrong which can be applied to his selection.
The administrator’s decision cannot be evaluated by scientific means alone, since factual as well as ethical
propositions are present in it. The values involved in administrative decision are seldom final values in
psychological or philosophical sense, since most objectives and activities derive their value from the means and
relationships which connect them with objectives or activities that are valued in themselves.
The process of decision-making can be subdivided into two major parts: (1) the first involves the development
of a system of values and then: appraising their relative merits and demerits, And (2) the Second consist
in a comparison of the possible lines of action in terms of the value system. The first part involves both the
ethical and the factual considerations, while the second is restricted only to factual problems.
This distinction between factual and value premises has an obvious bearing on the question of how discretion
can be reconciled with responsibility and accountability and what the line of division is to be between policy
and administration.
For a science of administration the two must be rigorously
Separated and, according to Simon, a science of administration can only be based on facts.
Stages in the Decision-Making Process
Simon’s major interest has been in analyzing bow decisions are made and how they, could be made more
effective. He describes three stages in the process of making a decision.
1. The Intelligence Activity, i.e., identifying occasions calling Tor a decision. Executives spend a large fraction
of their time surveying the economic, technical, political and social environment to identify new conditions
that lead to new action.

35
2. The Design Activity, which comprises inventing, developing and analyzing possible courses of action. An
executive spends even a larger chunk of time seeking to invent, design and develop possible courses of
action for handling situations where decisions are needed,
3. The Choice Activity, which involves selecting a particular course of action from the available choices. For
this, an executive needs a small fraction of his time, since he has to choose among actions already
developed.
The execution of decision is also regarded as a decision-making process since an executive faces a new set of
problems in carrying out a particular decision. For Simon, the whole managerial action is included in the process
of decision-Making.
In the traditional theory of economic man, decision-making was designed to maximize the “return”, but since
this model is divorced from reality, it cannot be applied to administrative situations. There is a non-rational,
emotional and unconscious element in man’s thinking and behaviour. It becomes the task of an administrator
to be as close as possible to rationality in his administrative decisions.
The Dilemma of Satisfying vs. Maximizing and Optimizing
While dealing with the “decision-making process,” Simon attacked the traditional game theory and statistical
decision-making theory. These theories tend to get divorced from reality, for they are founded on assumptions
which ‘are unrealistic. Simon asserts that any theory based on such assumptions is “fundamentally wrong”. He,
maintains that there is a large non-rational, emotional and unconscious element in Man’s thinking and behaviour,
and so the concern of administrative theory is with the boundary between the rational and non-rational aspects
of human and social, behaviour. This limit to rationality is not static but depends on the environment of
organization in which the individual decision takes place. The task of administration, according Simon, is to
design the environment in such a way that the individual will approach rationality as close as practicable in his
decisions. It is almost improbable to evaluate all possible alternatives open for a particular action. He looks
for a course of action that is satisfactory or “good enough”. Most human decision-making, whether individual
or organizational, is concerned with the discovery and selection of satisfactory alternatives. It is only in
exceptional cases that an individual is concerned with the discovery and selection of optimal alternatives.
Simon opines that if these limitations are accepted then it is possible to build a mathematical model of rational
choice.
Simon has also referred to the techniques of decision-making. In discussing these, he makes a distinction
between programmed and non-programmed decisions. Programmed decisions are repetitive and routine and a
definite procedure has been evolved to deal with them. These decisions may often be automated with the help
of an electronic computer. Thus they do not have to be considered afresh when the familiar situations emerge.
Non-programmed decisions, on the other hand, are those which are novel and unstructured and there exists no
known method of handling them in an “optimum” manner. This may be because a similar case has not
occurred before, or because it may be a particularly difficult case. Human beings, although capable of acting
intelligently in many new and difficult situations, are likely to be less “efficient” in such a situation. The
traditional techniques of dealing with non-programmed decisions include selection and training of executives
who prossess judgment intuition and creativity. But recently, as Simon has argued, a complete revolution has
taken place in the techniques of non-programmed decision-making. The revolution has been due to the
development and application of techniques such as mathematical analysis, operational research, electronic data
processing and computer machines. These techniques were previously used for programmed decision-making
but now, through their application, non-programmed decisions have become simple and programmed.
Simon has been personally active in developing computer programmes for non programmed problem-
solving. He maintains that the same process can be applied to the sphere of administrative decision-making.

36
The Mechanism of Influence
Simon maintains that people in an organization are decision-making mechanisms, and administrators influence
them by determining the factual or value premises on which decisions are based.
The first decision that an employee participant makes is whether to participate or not to participate in an
organization. Simon has adopted Barnard’s view that each participant will stay To Thinkers organization until
his inducements outweigh his contribution, an employee the most obvious personal incentive that the organization
offers is salary or wage. In return he places his time and efforts at the disposal of those directing the organization.
Simon also differentiates between the decision to participate and the decision to produce. In deciding to
participate, a participant is guided by personal considerations and once this decision is made, personal goals,
to some degree, become subordinate to the goals of the organization. High morale develops whenever influence
creates such an atmosphere in which employees are willing to participate in a truly active way and are ready
to devote their full energies the tasks of the organization.
Simon also distinguishes between “internal” and “external” influences on a decision-maker. Internal influence
identifies the individual with the organization, although this identification is limited by an individual’s background
and outside influences. The other is external influence. In this category comes authority which Simon defines
as the power to make decisions which guide the actions of others. Thus, authority is a relationship existing
between two individuals. it involves behaviour on the part of both the superior and the sabordinate. This shows
that authority is neither legalistic in a strict sense nor is it based on formal sanctions alone. Essentially, authority
is sea on the willingness of the receiver of a command to achieve the pose of the organization, or to follow
a leader or to follow the sanctions imposed by the group to which he belongs. Authority not limited by the
relationship created in a hierarchy where superior asks his subordinate to do something, because modern
societies are giving more and more authority to functional status less and less to organization hierarchy. This
acceptance flows confidence in the competence and good faith of the authority wielder.
Other sources of external influences are communication, training advice. These media of external influences
provide people with indispensable facts, estimates and judgments. The selection of the people who are already
trained and who can most readily identify with the organization make the task of influence easier.
Simon also warns against the conflicting influences because in administration, they pose an important problem
and these problems can only be solved by establishing a determinate hierarchy of authority
The Process of Communication
Communication, according to Simon, may be defined as any process whereby decisional premises are transmitted
from one member of an organization to another. Communication is an inevitable process in an organization,
It Is a two-way process, i.e., the decisional centre in informed by the individual vested with the responsibility
for making particular decision of orders, information and advice and then the decisions reached at this centre
are transmitted to other parts of the organization. It is a process that takes place upward, downward and
throughout the organization. There are two media of organizational communication: (a) for-mal; and (b)
informal. Formal communication is through spoken words, memoranda and letters, whereas the informal
communication system is built around the social relationships of the members of the organization. Like
Barnard, Simon also places emphasis on informal channels of communication for the transmission of information.
The informal communication system is sometimes used by organization members to advance their personal
aims.
Simon has also briefly discussed the barriers in the communication process. Here he has gone much farther
than Barnard in dealing with the difficulties in the communication process. He observes that serious blockades

37
may occur at any of the three levels of communication process: (1) initiation, (2) transmission, and (3)
reception. Information initiated from the lower level tends to be transmitted upward in the organization, but
there is often failure to transmit information upward simply because the subordinate cannot visualize’ accurately
what information his superior needs in order to make his decisions.
Much of the difficulty in communication comes because of the language used, particularly the organizational
jargon, which is not easily understandable. Then there are many other factors influencing communication, e.g.,
geographical distance, status differences and above all the pressure of work which makes communication
difficult.
Since communication is an inevitable part of any organization, many organizations develop specialized
communication services. Thus many of them establish special intelligence units to handle specific information-
gathering functions. This task is performed within the organization as well as outside the organization.
Another service function undertaken in a bureaucratic organization is the collection of information in the form
of “organization memory.” The methods used are record system, correspondence, files libraries and follow-up
systems. Information is also communicated and gathered through general circulars, hierarchical channels, etc.
Lastly comes training which is one of several alternative methods of communication which are particularly
useful in transmitting the job “know-how!’ Training can deal directly with some of the fundamental barriers
to effective communication by providing a common organizational language. It also influences decision-making
particularly in those situations where the exercise of formal authority through commands proves difficult. It
permits a higher degree of decentralization of the decision-Making process by bringing the necessary competence
even in lowest levels of the organizational hierarchy.
Conclusion
At can be rightly claimed that in the whole movement of taking the field of public administration near to the
goal of constructing of “science of administration”, Herbert Simon’s contribution has been the most significant.
His criticism of the classical school for laying too much emphasis on “principles” of administration jolted the
scholars of public administration and compelled them to look afresh at their conceptual constructs. Simon’s
stress on the use of behavioural approach with Particular emphasis on the decision-making scheme has paved
the way, for a new learning process in public administration. His analysis of human rationality and its limitations
in administrative behaviour has encouraged a number of new studies in the field of organizational psychology.
In this sphere, Simon’s theory of .motivation still enjoys a distinguished place.
However, in the debate on facts and values that Simon, had with Dwight Waldo, it became clear that Simon’s
idea of a “fact-based!’ administrative theory was more relevant to business administration than to public
administration. It is unfortunate indeed that ‘since, the early sixties, Simon has not written much on public
administrative systems. Of course, the contribution that he has already made should be enough to keep his
distinctive place secure in the annals of public administration.

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 Chapter - 8

CHRIS ARGYRIS
AMONG the contemporary organization theorists, Chris Argyris has acquired the unique distinction of being
the foremost scholar who has stressed the efficiency of blending the needs of the individual with those of the
organization in a most rational manner. With basic degree in Psychology, Argyris was for many years’ a
Professor of Industrial Administration at Yale University.
In developing his conceptualization on organizational behave our, Argyris has extensively utilized research
findings in the fields of psychology, social psychology and human relations. Viewing an organization as an open
system, ho has analyzed the interaction between the organization and the environment as also between the
individual and the organization.
Argyris recognizes the effectiveness of behavioural science yet he observes that these sciences are still in their
infancy and at times are not even directly relevant to the complex industrial situations. Utilizing the existing
knowledge of psychology and to a less extent of sociology, Argyris has attempted to develop a theory of
human behaviour based on the characteristics of the individual, the work group and the formal organization.
Argyris feels that this one area where the practitioners and theorists must get together to see how and why
workable situations do or do not match the existing theory.
The Human Personality
The first thing, Argyris feels, which a manager should profoundly understand is human personality. Personality
of the individual working in an organization has a considerable impact on the working of the organization as
a whole. Human personality consists of number of parts which, when related together in totality, form the who
individual. The relative weaknesses and strengths of these various parts also contribute to the uniqueness which
characterize an individual. Any attempt to transfer one part alone may cause difficulties, since a change can
only be brought about by changing the relation-ship of one particular part with the rest of the human personality.
Argyris opines that an ideal organization is one where the interrelationship among parts presents a two-faceted
balance:
1. There should be internal adjustment between the parts; and
2. A balance should exist between the organization and its external environment.
An Integrated person is one who is well adjusted in himself and who has adopted himself appropriately to ‘his
environment. However, Argyris is aware of the fact that in empirical situations, a complete integration of
human personality is difficult to materialize, No. doubt, internal changes are normal, as a person grows from
infancy to maturity, but adjusting to external changes sometimes becomes difficult, primarily on account of
certain psychological barriers which come in the way of such an adjustment. Psychological energy are closely
interrelated phenomena. An excessive loss of psychological energy generally causes the reduction of physical
energy as well. Argyris holds that greater importance should be given to the development of psychological
energy which essentially forms the basis of human behaviour. Each individual has a set of needs, and these
needs release energy in order to get satisfaction. The deeper the need, the greater will be the amount of energy.
An individual is likely to put all his energies into meeting, a challenge, in case he feels assured of the potential
satisfaction that he would I probably obtain once the challenge is successfully met.

39
Argyris has remarked that in organizational situations, there is I found generally a lack of interpersonal
competence. This prevents people from becoming mature in outlook. Besides, it does not permit fuller expression
of their psychological energy. Resultantly, individuals often remain short-sighted in their actions that they
perform on the job. They remain concerned only with the present outputs and thus are unable to foresee future
consequences of their actions. They even ‘shirk their responsibilities and do not show sufficient interest in
making use of opportunities.
Argyris’s research suggests shat interpersonal competence is low in most organizations whether factories, research
organizations, “Hosipitals, on the shop floor, and/or among research organizations.
Everywhere people try to find excuses for what they do, without minding the impact of their actions on others.
They only stick to their own habitual ways and half hear what others try to tell them. Such an attitude gives
rise to mutual suspicion and distrust.
Effective management systems must aim at a fuller development of individual potentialities and facilitating
open interpersonal relationship. Only through the enhancement of psychological energy by the individuals and
through a better coordination among different functionaries in an organization can a more effective organizational
performance be achieved.
The Formal Organization: Argyris has observed that the classical models of formal organization create
conditions in which a conflict between the organization and the human personality is most likely to occur. He
claims that none of these models are true to life and that their only importance lies in their providing a
yardstick by which reality can be measured. Argyris opines however that in many cases management is trying
hard to mitigate the worst features of conflict between the organization and personality. At, this point it might
be pertinent to examine the principles on which organizations are based and then evaluate their overall impact
on the organizational dynamics.
It is assumed that basically all formal organizations have a specified purpose or objective, and the structure of
these organizations are designed in such a way that the organizational objectives could be achieved with
minimum overlapping of tasks. Urwick has presented certain principles of organizational structure, but which
exclude considerations of personalities and individuals. Fayol’s one major principle relates to assigning a place
for everything and putting everything in its place. These and other principles overlook the importance of the
personality factor in the organizational setting.
Task Specialization: Another organizational principle relates to task or work specialization. It indicates that if
efforts are concentrated on a limited field of endeavour, then the quality and quantity of output will increase.
The underlying assumption is that specialization increases the human skill to perform better in’ the job.
Chain of Command: The principle of task specialization will lead to the plurality of tasks. A pattern of parts
must be formed so that the interrelationship among the parts may facilitate the working of the total organization.
The planners should undertake upon themselves the primary responsibility of controlling, directing and
coordinating the operations of various parts and of ensuring that each part pee-, forms its objective adequately.
Administrative and organizational efficiency can be increased if the parts are arranged in a hierarchy of
authority, where the part at the top can direct the parts at the bottom.
Unily of Direction: Unity of direction takes place where we have specialized single activity. The principle
indicates that organizational and administrative efficiency increases if each unit has a single activity that is well
planned and directed by the leader.
Span of Control: The principles of control indicate that administrative efficiency is increased by limiting the
span of control of a leader.

40
Argyris concludes that putting the models of personality and formal organization side by side, we find certain
basic disagreement between the needs of the organization and the psychological needs of the individual. Formal
organizations create situations where employees (a) are provided with minimum control over their work day;
(b) they are expected to be passive, dependent and subordinate; (c) they are expected to have a short time
perspective; (d) they are expected to have the frequent use of a few skin surface shallow, abilities; and lastly
(e) they are expected to produce under conditions leading to psychological failure. Thus formal organizations
make people feel dependent, submissive and passive and require them to utilize only a few of their less
important abilities.
Impact of Formal Organization upon the Individual
Turning to research in industrial behaviour, Argyris formulates certain propositions about the impact of formal
organization on the individual. Major hypotheses in this regard are as follows:
1. There is lack of disagreement between the needs of individual and the initial demands of the formal
organization. This leads to a conflicting situation because the individual feels that he cannot fulfil his
personal needs and at the same time meet the demands of the organization. This leads to various types
of reactions on the part of the individual. He starts thinking in terms of leaving the job, taking, leave
without informing, ignoring the requirements of the organization, showing indifference and lack of interest
in the organization and ultimately remaining in a state of conflict and tension which in turn may lead to
some organizational accidents.
2. Another impact of the rigidities of formal, organization could be the development of frustration among
the participants in the organization. Their yearning for a healthy existence and a more mature self-
actualization may not be satisfied. The resultant frustration on the part of the participants is likely to lead
to a less mature behaviour, aggression and hostility.
3. Certain management reactions may produce a sense of psychological failure, the result of which may be
loss of interest in work, loss of self-confidence, tendency of blaming others, lower work standards, giving
up easily, and lastly an expectation of still more failure.
The consequences of the aforesaid situations could be that either the worker consciously or unconsciously
decides to substitute for his own needs or he may demand more money to compensate the situation.
In case the behaviour of individual is viewed as anti-organization, it may lead to punishment by the management.
This creates a feeling of insecurity and thus one of the main functions of primary group is to support the
individual. One way in which the group does this is by setting lower work targets than the management requires
and force the individual to follow the group behaviour.
The second mechanism employed by the group to control individual behaviour is by forming trade unions in
order to decrease, the real authority which the management has and thus to transfer some of it to the workers
as represented by unions. Through unions, the workers demand higher compensation and better amenities from
the management. The intervening variable makes the task’ of adopting individual behaviour to the organizational
behayiour more complex.
Management’s Reaction
Workers’ behaviour is a reflection of reaction to a situation set up by management, and its relationship to their
ideas. Management should therefore include their own behaviour while assessing an organizational situation, but
unfortunately top management in con-temporary organizations generally makes the mistake of overlooking this
factor Management generally tends to draw negative conclusion about workers’ behaviour, e.g., the employees
are lazy, they are indifferent, they show lack of interest in their jobs, they are money-minded, they deliberately

41
make mistakes and incur waste. The only solution to these problems, according to the conservative management,
appears to be to change the workers if the organization’ is to succeed.
What is required today is a new group of dynamic leaders who can push or persuade workers to produce, can
get facts and make good decisions, know policies and can communicate effectively. The problem with the
modern manager is that he is isolated from the real situation, and the higher he is, the greater is his isolation
from the realities. This renders him incapable of effecting right remedial measures for correcting imbalances
in the Organization.
The Supervisor
In between workers and the management comes the supervisor whose role is quite challenging. Being an ex-
worker, his sympathies lie with the workers but as a member of the management team, his loyalty is to the
management. This way he is always in a situation, of stress and conflict unless ho is placed in a fortunate but
rare position where the aims of management and the aims of the workers coincide.
The situation becomes worse for him when trade unions enter the scene. In such ticklish circumstances, the
management does little to help the supervisors who are generally left to themselves and to their interpersonal
skills.
Reducing Disagreement Between Management and the Individual
Argyris suggests certain solutions through which disagreement between the formal organization and the individual
could be removed or lessened. A reference to these suggested solutions is being made below:
1. The first suggestion given by Argyris is to enlarge the jobs instead of cutting them. Jobs should be enlarged
in content and ‘Increased in variety. This will create an interest in the employees as also generate a feeling
of responsibility, thereby removing the conditions which create conflict, frustration and feelings of failure.
2. Another means of reducing disagreement between the management and the individual is to encourage
participative management and leadership. For this, Argyris suggests that only mature individuals should be
selected for managerial and leadership positions. Where individuals and groups are not mature, they may
be unable to face the challenge involved.
3. Lastly, Argyris favours the development of ‘reality’ leadership where the leader needs a great deal of
understanding rather Than just depending upon hunch for decision making. Top managers must not be
afraid to show their real feelings to those above and below them. They must try to speak constructively
about one another in a way which is honest and helpful.
Human Relations: A Look into the Future
Argyris holds that management philosophy has moved from the initially developed emphasis on scientific
management to an emphasis on people and human relations. In fact, an effective management requires the right
combination of both the approaches. Only then a judicious blend between the structural and the human
dimensions of organization can be brought about.
Argyris predicts that the policies that require people to be friendly will turn into policies that permit freedom
for people to dislike as well as to be friendly. He further observes that the belief that superiors can develop
subordinates to be more skilful in inter-personal competence will no more be true since none can develop
anyone else except himself. The responsibility of Management is not to develop people. It is to develop the
climate and opportunities for self-development.

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Thus, according to Argyris, what is needed is a philosophy of management that views individual and the
organization not only as interrelated but actually as interpenetrating phenomena. He advocates a philosophy
of management where the individuals and the organization have a right to lead a healthy life and where it is
acknowledged that their health can only improve through the dynamic process of man interpenetrating with
the organization.
Conclusion
Chris Argyris has attempted to present a typology of models which relate to the worker, the manager and the
formal organization. He has postulated the “immaturity and maturity theory” which suggests that organizations
too often keep workers passive and thus stunt their psychological growth. Argyris in general has been concerned
with making organizations healthy through the integration of individual and the organization. One of his recent
contributions relates to intervention theory which pertains to the role of behavioural science consultants in
helping organizations to diagnose better their ailments and thus to solve their problems through an indepth
Analysis. This approach of Organization Development has great scope of application to organizations in
developed as well as developing societies.

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 Chapter - 9
FRED W. RIGGS
FRED W. RIGGS is among the most innovative scholars in the disciplines of Political Science and Public
Administration.
In 1963, when the Comparative Administration Group (C.A.G.) was set up as-a committee of the American
Society for Public Administration, Prof. Riggs was made its first Chairman—a position that he held until 1970.
The CAG was engaged in conducting cross-cultural studies on the multidimensional administrative problems
of the emergent nations.
Riggs’s Developmental Approach
During the past two decades, Riggs has been engaged in the task of conceptualizing the processes of development,
particularly in the political and administrative realms. In presenting his concepts, he has taken the help of
structural-functional approach, systems approach and the ecological approach. The structural-functional approach
views structures as patterns of behaviour which have become standard features of a social system. Functions,
on the other hand, represent the interrelationships among various structures or the consequences of one
structure over other structures. The less number of functions a structure performs, the more “diffracted” it is.
Conversely, the more functions a structure performs, the more “fused” it is. A mixture of “diffracted” and
“fused” structures creates “prismatic” structures.
The systems approach may view any explainable phenomenon as a system. A system is composed of several
parts, each part interacting with each other. Each system functions in its environment and there is a continuing
interaction between the system ant environment. The environment influences the system in the form “inputs”
which are “converted” into “outputs” by, the system. Through a process of feedback, outputs cause the
emergence of inputs. The interaction between, a system and its environment characterized as an “ecological”
interaction, and such an interaction is the crux of the ecological approach. Using the ecological approach, Riggs
views public bureaucracies as one of the several basic institutions in a society that interact with other subsystems
society, viz., political system, economic system, social system the cultural, system. Thus an administrative
system influence the society of which it is a part and in turn it influences the society at large.
Thus Fred W. Riggs is a Contemporary theorist in field of political development and Comparative Public
Administration has been primarily interested in conceptualizing on the interaction between administrative
systems and their environment. He has particularly studied the differences, in social, cultural, historical or
political environment and their effect on administration. He has studied as to how an administrative system
affects the society of which it is a part. This interaction of the environment with administration has been
termed by him as “ecology” of administration.
Concept of Development
Development, according to Riggs, is a process of increasing autonomy (discretion) of social systems, made
possible by rising levels of diffraction. Development is not the same as differentiation. An ecological view of
development is an increasing ability to make and carry out collective decisions.
Differentiation, Riggs has observed, leads to a key problem of effecting integration. The necessity of integration
arises in development administration because there are a variety of specialized roles which may lead to
confusion and chaos unless they are carefully coordinated with each other. Besides’ there must be a mechanism
to tie together, to link up, and to coordinate the various kind of specialized roles. It is much easier to train

44
people to perform their specialized roles in modern government than to actually integrate these roles. Integration
of the specialized roles can lead to development. But Riggs’s opinion is that no country can truly be called
Developed even though from the prevailing viewpoint it may be considered as already developed. The essence
of development is a process of improved decision-making rather than the output of those decisions, and
improved decisions can only take place if developing countries learn to plan and accept permanent austerity,
humility and self-control. Riggs hypothesizes that the more differentiated and integrated a society, the higher
the level of development that it can attain and more capable it becomes of making and implementing decisions
which involve effective control over its environment.
Development, as Riggs has observed, must be something that everyone likes, although one can scarcely find
anything in life that can be concretely identified and that can please everyone. Development in brief is a kind
of change that’ can be clearly identified but which one may approve or disapprove for various reasons. It may
combine beneficial with harmful consequences and it may affect some more favourably than others.
Riggs, like Edward Weidner, views development administration as a goal-oriented administration—an
administration which is engaged in the task of achieving progressive political, economic and social goals. In
this context, Riggs has presented the concept of “administrative development” which refers to the increase in
the capabilities of an administrative system to achieve the prescribed goals.
Nature of Comparative Administrative Studies
Riggs has observed that since World War II, three important trends can be discerned in the field of public
administration. These trends are as follows:
1. A shift from non-ecological to ecological studies;
2. A shift from normative to empirical studies; and
3. A shift froth ideographic to “nomothetic” studies.
“Ideographic” studies are one-nation, one-institute or one-case studies, while “nomothetic” studies stress the
theory building exercise, on the basis of cross-national and cross-cultural analyses of administrative systems.
Thus Riggs’s attempts at theory building in the field of public Administration are exercises in the construction
of models adopting structural-functional, systemic and ecological approaches which are designed to help the
analysis of developmental process throughout the world, but more particularly in the so-called developing
societies. Here a reference will be made to two of his typologies, first the “agrarian industria” typology and
second the “fused-prismatic diffracted” typology. It may be underscored at this point that Riggs’s models are
of an “ideal type” character. They are based on the one-sided accentuations of certain specific logically
interrelated characteristics. Their aim is not to explain empirical reality as such, but only to act as a heuristic
device for the understanding of such a reality.
The Agraria-Industria Typology
The first typology constructed by Riggs to study the administrative systems in a comparative con text was the
“agraria-transitia-indusrial” typology which was formulated in 1957.
In this model Riggs differentiated between two types of societies —societies where agricultural institutions
dominated, and societies where industrial institutions dominated. An example of the former was Imperial
China and of the latter, that contemporary America. Riggs’s models of “agraria and industria” resemble to a
great extent Weber’s traditional and legal-rational authority systems respectively.

45
Riggs has identified certain structural features of agrarian societies, which may briefly be summarized as
follows:
1. There is a dominance of ascriptive, particular and diffuse patterns.
2. The local groups are stable and there is very limited spatial mobility.
3. Occupational differences are very simple and stable.
4. There exists a differential stratification systems of diffuse impact.
On the other hand an industrial society has the following characteristics:
1. There is a dominance of universal, specific and achievement norms.
2. The degree of social mobility is higher.
3. Occupational system is well developed, and cut off from other social structures.
4. There exists an egalitarian class system based on generalized patterns of occupational achievement.
5. Associations are also prevalent which are functionally specific and non-ascriptive in nature.
Between these two ideal types was the society of “transitia” .which represented a transitional stage between
the agraria and the industria.
Soon after this typology was formulated, Riggs realized that there were certain limitations inherent in it. These
limitations can briefly be summarized as follows:
1. ‘Agraria-Industria’ typology was not helpful in studying the transitional societies, i.e., those societies which
were moving from the agrarian stage towards the industrial stage.
2. The system did not provide sufficient mechanisms to analyze mixed societies, since modern industrial
societies always have some agrarian features.
3. The typology assumed a unidirectional movement from the agraria to the industria.
4. Lastly, the model gave very little emphasis to the analysis of the administrative system per se. The major
stress was on the environment of the administrative system.
Looking to the limitations of the typology and its criticisms, Riggs himself abandoned it and later came out
with his well known typology of “fused-prismatic-diffracted” societies which is an improvement over his first
typology.
The Models of Fused-Prismatic-Diffracted Societies
The typology of “fused, prismatic and diffracted” societies is based on the structural-functional approach,
which studies societies on the basis of functional differentiation of various social structures. Those societies
whose social structure is functionally diffuse, i.e., structure with almost no specialized rules, have been termed
as “fused.” On the other hand, a “diffracted” society is one which has highly functionally specific structures,
i.e., those which carry out limited number of prescribed functions on account of their specialized character. In
between the two polar types, comes the category of prismatic society where exists a high degree of “formalism,”
“overlapping’,” and “heterogeneity.”
Although Riggs has given the three ideal typical categories, yet his attention has focused on the social structures
of prismatic society and their interactions with the administrative subsystem in a society. The relevance of

46
fused and diffracted societies lies only in helping or aiding to analyze the prismatic societies, and therefore his
treatment of these two models is sketchy. Riggs’s basic interest was in highlighting the administrative problems
of transitional societies and therefore his major focus of study has been on “prismatic society.”
Prismatic-Sala Model
Riggs has identified three basic features of a prismatic society. These are:
1. Heterogeneity
2. Formalism
3. Overlapping
Heterogeneity: The first characteristic of a prismatic society is that there is a high degree of heterogeneity, i.e.,
different kinds of systems, practices and opinions are present in such a society. Social change in this society
is incomplete because there is a presence of fused as well as diffracted traits. There exist in a prismatic society
urban areas with sophisticated intellectual class, offices run on Western styles and modern apparatus of
administration. On the other hand, in rural areas there exist traditional systems and outlook. Heterogeneity is
coexist also found in the administrative system, since there, modern “bureau” coexist with traditional “courts.”
Formalism: Formalism is another’ feature of prismatic society. There exists a great discrepancy between the
formally prescribed norms and their practices, whereas in a fused and diffracted society there is a high degree
of realism. Although public officials insist on following some of the rules and laws, yet their official behaviour
does not correspond to legal status. Due to the formal behaviour of the officials, corruption becomes a natural
phenomenon.
Formal reforms in administrative institutions, according to Riggs, have only a superficial impact on a prismatic
society. Therefore in order to bring institutional changes in administration, public officials should be trained and
an attitude of developing realism should be nurtured.
Overlapping: Next to heterogeneity and formalism comes overlapping which has several dimensions of its own.
Overlapping, according to Riggs, refers, to the coexistence of formally differentia-ted structures of a diffracted
society with the undifferentiated structure of &fused society. In spite of new structures prevailing in the
society, old structures still dominate various functional areas in the social system. Generally, only lip service
is paid to the new norms and values while in essence, greater significance is attached to old value’s and
practices.
Overlapping also exists in the sala because what is described as “administrative” behaviour is determined by
non-administrative factors, such as political, economic, social and religious fortes.
In a prismatic society overlapping has several dimensions which may briefly be discussed as follows:
(a) Nepotism: In a prismatic society, family loyalty and kinship are given prime importance in recruitment
to the administrative class, whereas in a diffracted society family loyalties are completely divorced from
official behaviour. Further, in a prismatic society universal norms in administering laws are generally
disregarded. Patrominalism is often declared dangerous officially but that is only in theory; in practice it
is usually followed.
(b) “Poly-Communalism” or “Cents”: Poly-communalism is the name given by Riggs to a plural society
where we find the simultaneous existence of several ethnic, religious and racial groups. These groups in
a prismatic society are mobilized for mass communication, without becoming fully assimilated with the

47
 elite. In such a poly-communal society, membership of interest groups is largely based on community
loyalty.
The development of poly-communalism in a prismatic society influences the character and behaviour of the
sala. In principle, government officials administer law s impartially among all the citizens but in practice the
sala officials discriminate between the members of their own community. and others. They have greater loyalty
towards their community than towards the government. This type of discrimination creates many problems
since recruits are drawn from a dominant community. However, to protect the interest of other communities,
“quota basis” may provide a sort of a proportional representation, but even this leads to mutual hostility or
non-cooperation between several agencies staffed by members of rival communities.
In a poly-communal situation, sometimes the sale or one of its agencies starts functioning like a elect and
develops close relations with members of specific elects. The result is that instead of encouraging a policy on
a universal base, it is applied “selectively” for members of, the favoured community. Besides various privileges
are given to the dominant group at the expense of others. Even officials’ in the sala get benefit from this
situation. Thus clect formation within the sale acts as a hindrance in the achievement of universalistic norms.
This type of prismatic behaviour is closely related to the economic subsystem of a prismatic society.
Prismatic Economy: The Bazaar Canteen Model
In a prismatic society, the market factor of diffracted society and the arena factor of fused society interact with
each other and produce a state of “price indeterminancy,” i.e., it is impossible to determine a common price
for a service.
In a diffracted society, government service which is for sale to the public is sold at the same price to all citizens
without distinction, and salary is determined by the value of work performed and the market cost of labour.
But in a prismatic society, according to Riggs, the relationship between public officials and their clients is that
of sellers with their buyers. Hence prices charged for a public service in a prismatic society vary according
to the nature of the relationship between a public servant and his client. Services are sold at a preferential rate
to members of the dominant community or of inside clects. Conversely, services are sold at higher rates to
outside clects or to the members of deviant and minority communities.
Salary determination is also influenced by family consideration. An official is placed in a salaried position
without even performing any duties or performing only minimal duties. Notably, corrupt behaviour in public
service becomes a characteristic of sala model since some officials are in an advantageous position in comparison
to the others because of bribes and other favours they receive from clientele groups.
In addition, price indeterminacy promotes a bazaar-type atmosphere in a prismatic society. This leads to
a lot of bargaining in financial dealings especially in such areas as taxes, fees, rebates and bribes. The whole
set-up of financial administration is influenced by such practices, even the collection of government revenues
is impaired which finally leads to low salary for public officials. Public officials getting low emoluments through
regular channels feel more inclined and motivated to increase their income through illegitimate ways. Thus in
a prismatic society, the economic subsystem on the one hand affects the official conduct and on the other hand
is affected by the official conduct.
“Poly-Normativism” and Lack of Consensus
In a prismatic society, as Riggs holds, a new set of “norms” and rules coexist with the traditional ways of
behaviour. Overlapping of the traditional and effective norms with the new set of rules and laws leads to
substantial lack of consensus.

48
Different individuals are involved in different ways in a situation lacking consensus. Some of them adhere to
traditional norms and others embrace the modern ones. There is still the category of “transitional” individuals
who are attracted to both sets. They claim to apply Western rationalistic norms in their conduct, but still
continue to cling to the traditional practices.
The sala bureaucrat enters into service through education and competitive examinations, but promotions and
other benefits are given to him through seniority or by the support of seniors. These officials publicly adhere
to a modern set of norms, but secretly reject them as meaningless or not binding. A sala official insists on
a strict and literal enforcement of regulations at one moment but the next moment winks at their open
violation. Even the citizens, in their relationship with the sale, are poly-normative. On the one hand, they stress
the idea that governmental conduct should be of a strict legal rational character, but on the other, they are ready
to disregard official rules for their own benefits.
Power Distribution: Authority v. Control
Riggs notes that in a prismatic society, there exists a phenomenon of overlapping in the power distribution
system. The power structure in a prismatic society has the tendency of “over-centralization.” In terms of
overlapping, the authority structure of the sale overlaps with different kinds of control structures. Such an
overlapping also influences the relationship between politicians and administrators, Generally a prismatic society
has “unbalanced polity” with bureaucrats dominating the politico-administrative system. The sala officials in
such a situation have a major role in decision-making, which results in a lack of official responsiveness to public
needs and wishes.
The influence of political leaders, to an important degree, varies with their ability to reward or punish the
administrators, but even then the role a bureaucrat plays in a prismatic society-influences considerably the’ level
of output. Riggs has, suggested’ that there is an inverse ratio between administrative output and bureaucratic
power. The more powerful the officials become, the less affective they become as administrators. Thus sala
in a prismatic society is characterized by nepotism in recruitment, inefficiency in the administration of laws,
institutionalized corruption and lastly by the motives of gaining more power and protecting their own interest.
Systemic Change in a Prismatic Society
Riggs has observed that Western nations were able to-adjust gradually to the evolving prescribed behaviour
Since they had relatively long time, span for their development, and secondly these nations experienced less
formalism, heterogeneity and overlapping.
In a prismatic society, pressure for change is external as well as internal. When it is external, it is termed as
“exogendus,” an when internal, is termed, as “endogenous.” In a situation where the pressures for change from
external as well as internal source is equal in strength it may be called “equi-genetic.”
Riggs has opined that greater, formalism, heterogeneity, and overlapping are likely to exist in an “exo-prismatic”
society in comparison to an “endo-prismatic” one. ‘Problems of formalism, heterogeneity and overlapping are
faced by prismatic or transitional societies in their bid to absorb the change in shortest possible time.
Appraised
Riggs’s contribution in the field of Comparative’ Administration can easily be rated as most outstanding. His
“prismatic-sala” models and ‘the value-neutral conceptualization of development have taken the cross cultural
administrative studies towards greater objectivity. His ideal typical models have encouraged several
empirical studies on the administrative systems of developing countries. Riggs’s ecological approach
takes, us away from assuming that any particular subsystem of a society can be a priori considered as independent

49
variable. His analysis of the process or administrative development can provide ‘guidelines to the policy-makers
in different nations.
Undoubtedly, there have been- many criticisms of Riggs’s models, but they should be seen only as the limitations
of a newly evolved conceptualization which—is still in a stage of constant reformulation.

50
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Foundation 2020
– Ashutosh Pandey

PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 5

Organisation Behaviour and

Organisation Theory
 MAJOR CONCEPTS AND
PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATION
Introduction

In this chapter we” shall discuss some major concepts of public administration; along with this we will highlight
the principles of public administration which are generally followed by persons trusted with the task of
implementing the policies and decisions of the government. At the‘“-outset we must admit public administration
is a growing subject and its primary objective is to expand the resource base of the government and ensure
the utilisation of the resources for the general welfare and progress of the body politic. If this is the main
purpose of public administration it may naively be said that public administration or, specifically, the purpose
of state” administration, cannot have any fixed or universal principle. Remembering this Nicholas Henry said:
There could be no such thing as principles of administration. Henry is partially correct because it may be that,
public administration has no fixed principle because its objectives are pervasive. Notwithstanding this the
renowned public administrationists suggest some principles for public administration for its general guidance
and fruitful functioning. Herbert Simon, the noted authority of public administration (he was awarded Nobel
Prize in 1978) once said that in this sphere there could not be any; “universal principle. A large number of
administrationists lent their support to Simon. L.D. White, another noted author of public administration, said
there cannot be any fixed principle in administration. Robert Dahl also thought in the same line. In spite of
all these views the administrationists- suggest certain principles for the management and administration’ of state
and various organizations. We, in this chapter, shall discuss certain major principles of public administration.
But no principle is fixed. Against one principle there is another principle.

Necessity;” of Principles and Concepts

Although the renowned scholars have observed that there is no fixed or universal principle of public administration,
we are of opinion that still there is necessity of certain principles of public administration which are generally
followed almost in every state or non-state administration. What do we mean by principle? It means fundamental
truth or proposition serving as the foundation for belief or action. A concept is a general idea about something
usually expressed in a single word or short phrase. In almost all spheres of our life we follow certain principles
to regularise or streamline our activities. It is a fact that with the change of time or physical environment we
change principles and amend old concepts or reject them and adopt new concepts. The change of principle and
adoption of new concepts do not lead one to conclude that there is no necessity of these. Rather, the contrary
is true. In public administration there are certain principle, and these’ have been formulated on the basis of long
experience. The authors of these principles were renowned administrators or experienced executives who
gathered personal experience. On the basis of the experience they formulated certain principles. They have
never claimed the universality of the principles suggested by them. In public administration we study these
principles still today not because these have been formulated by experienced executives but because of the fact
that these are even today relevant and helpful for running administration of all sorts of organisations. In some
cases certain principles and concepts are slightly changed or remodelled to suit the new requirements.
We, therefore, firmly hold the view that the necessity of principles and concepts have not yet been exhausted.
Some very important principles or concepts will be discussed.
 Hierarchy
Definition, Nature and Origin
Hierarchy means a gradation of social positions or status. It implies structural or fixed inequality in which
position is unconnected with individual ability. This is the exact meaning of hierarchy employed or used in
public administration. In many organisations the principle of hierarchy is employed for the better or efficient
management of organisation. Some executives or administrationists call organisation an idea and in this system
hierarchy is also an idea. Let us quote few words from Earl Latham’s article published in Waldo’s-Ideas and
Issues of Public Administration (p. 109)-organisation is an idea, if so what is hierarchy? It is also an idea, it
is the idea men have about whom they follow and whom they lead-Hierarchy or Hieratics. In an organisation
there are different types and grades of work or responsibility and all the employees of the management are
not eligible for all posts or works. Again, the qualification and eligibility of all are not same. But all the
employees contribute to the betterment or development of the organisation. In order to place a right man in
a proper place is an important job which the authority must perform. Moreover, every employee is not eligible
for every job. All these are prelude to the system of hierarchy. Hence hierarchy can be defined as an idea or
system of management which suggests to employ a person to a post-for-which he is eligible. Apart from this,
in every organisation there is a chief executive to manage the whole body. Since he himself cannot manage
if alone he requires other people to help him. All of them do not hold the same rank or perform the same
duty. There are different persons who perform different duties.
Some experts of public administration are of opinion that the concept of hierarchy is quite prevalent in
theology. In church and related fields the system of hierarchy is generally found. Latham in the same article
has said: “Like an article of faith in a religious creed, hierarchy is a symbol of the belief in the mythic form
of administrative organisation. Like an article of religious faith it is believed in spite of the lack of evidence
to support it”. Some people think that in public administration the idea of religious faith is quite prevalent.
The employees of the lower rank never raise the question of the system of hierarchy and they ungrudgingly
obey the order of the higher officer. Latham further says: “here is the familiar symbolism of the theology of
the administration, including the mystic sign of Pyramid.”
We have just now stated that the concept of hierarchy is just like religious faith. The employees of the lower
rank generally do not raise question about the power or authority of their higher officer. They simply take it
for granted that the higher officer has the ability and qualification as well as power to issue order and direction.
Hence it is a kind of faith which may easily be compared with religious faith. The employees of the management
spontaneously obey the order of the higher officer. Here is an issues of faith and loyalty.
If this faith and loyalty for one reason or other, are disturbed, the system of hierarchy cannot function
satisfactorily. Hence loyalty to an faith in higher of hierarchy is that in the organization there shall exist mutual
faith and harmony and order shall prevail in the whole body of organization. Latham says: “But unless the
administrator sees this group as a coherent social unit, he is likely to develop not harmony and order, but
disorder and discouragement.” So we can say that unity and cooperation are the two most important properties
of hierarchical system. Along with it there shall exist mutual belief and faith. Every employee must take it
for granted that an officer above his head has the right to give order and it is his duty to obey the order.
This is a question of faith as well as an important issue of cooperation.
James Mooney has called the hierarchy a type or form of scalar process or principle. He calls it so as in all
organizations there is a highest rank and a lowest rank and in between these two there exist number of ranks.
The stages are generally arranged in order of “importance”. In public administration all the stages or all the
persons of a stage are not of equal importance. Each person holds a rank and there is scope of promotion to
higher rank. Promotion is determined by several factors. James Mooney, however, says that the scaler principle
works. We quote him: “The scaler principle is the same form of organization that is sometimes called hierarchical.
But to avoid all definitional variants, scaler is preferred.” (James Mooney’s article principles of Organisation
in Waldo’s ideas and issues of public administration, p.89). hierarchy is applied on the consideration that all
the functions of an organization are not of equal importance, and, on that ground they are arranged in order
of importance. Needless to say that this is the central theme of the concept of hierarchy. It has been asserted
that all types of organization in one form or other-follow or adopt the principle of hierarchy. It is said that
hierarchy may be vertical or horizontal. Whatever may the type be, hierarchy is hierarchy and every organization
follows or adopts it.
Functions of Hierarchy
In the public administration system of all modern states there exists bureaucratic structure and this is inseparable
from hierarchy. Long ago the German sociologist Max Weber pointed out this and since then bureaucracy,
public administration and hierarchy are well-knit concepts. In the structure of hierarchy there is a chief
executive who givers orders and it is channel of Command. The order of the chief executive passes through
several stages and it finally reaches its destination. It is said that it is impossible for the chief executive to send
his order personally to all concerned. Needless to say that here lies the crucial role of the hierarchy.
Another function of hierarchy is called channel of delegation. The decision of one person or a decision taken
at a particular stage is delegated or sent to another stage and in this way the public administration performs
its duty. It is not feasible for the chief executive to take all decisions regarding the management of organisation.
He simply formulates the general guidelines and, at subsequent stages, authorised persons or departments to
take decision or make changes in the original policy. In the British parliamentary and other parliamentary
systems there is a very, well-known concept which is called “delegated legislation”. ‘Its meaning is-the parliament
adopts the general principle of a policy and the general administration has been empowered to make minor
changes. The system of hierarchy falls in this category.
The third important function of hierarchy is that the modem public administration is to perform numerous and
different types of function arid it is no possible for any particular department to do all the duties. There are
different departments and various aspects of a decision are performed by them. In this way, public administration
is run today. No one department is absolutely responsible for any decision or performance. Sometimes the
reconsideration or reformulation of the original policy or decision may be required and hierarchical system does
this job. L.D. White has pointed this out.
Still there is another function. It is said that hierarchy ensures channel of internal control. This may be called
checks and balances. This system is prevalent in American constitutional structure. In the structure of hierarchy
no one particular section or department is fully empowered to take all decisions. The final-form of a decision
passes through a number of sections and after this it assumes final shape.
L.D. White has mentioned an important function of hierarchy. He says: The linkage of civilian officers in a
chain of command and responsibility of the main two-way highway along: which public business travels is an
endless stream (p. 85). The duty or responsibility of each section or person is specified and naturally there does
not arise any ambiguity. Each person or department performs specific duty and in this way the management
of the organisation is run. The specification of duty is an essential aspect of this system and this feature helps
running the public administration.
The hierarchy introduces in an indirect way a type of division of labour. The public administration has
numerous aspects and all these cannot be fruitfully performed by any single person. Naturally, the division of
labour or duty is an essential part of every organisation.
Limitations and Criticisms
Peter Self does not hold favourable opinion about hierarchy. In governmental system the application of this
policy or idea is not a realistic one. Let us see what he says: “A hierarchical image of government is not very
realistic. This is because the procedural rules or conventions which legitimise the ultimate exercise of authority
are rarely clear enough.
Hierarchy is a very well-known feature of modern administrative system. But there are several shortcomings
and one such shortcoming is conflicts frequently arise among various ranks and office-holders. Many employees
of different ranks may refuse to cooperate with the higher officer. It is very often found that the order of the
higher officer does not conform to reality and, in that case, employees of the lower rank may raise objection.
A very important aspect of hierarchy is cooperation. There must be cooperation among all the sections or
departments of organisation. But in reality it is found that this does not exist. This damages the function of
hierarchy as well as organisation.
If in any organisation there are recalcitrant employees whose leitmotif is not to cooperate with the management
or to find fault with others in that situation the normal functioning of the organisation is likely to be adversely
affected. Again, the management cannot be in. a position to get rid of such, employees because in many states
trade unionism is very powerful. The feature S or special aspect of hierarchy is that all the departments or
sections must cooperate with each other and must try to make the organisation a grand success.
For successful functioning of hierarchy there must exist cordial relation among all sections especially between
the chief executive and his subordinates. In many cases the relation is a sour one and the inevitable consequence
is that fruitful functioning of the organisation is affected. Since ‘hierarchy is not controlled or managed by
definite laws or principles conflicts become the normal feature of the organisation.
Another drawback of this system is authority, labour and remuneration are not always properly distributed;
grievances among many are bound to crop up. This usually happens in large organisations. Some persons get
higher remuneration doing less work and many others get more salary doing less job. This very often acts as
potential source of conflict.
Since there are no fixed principles of hierarchy, the system is not uniform everywhere. The system works
differently in different organisations. This evidently creates problem for hierarchy in public administration.
It may be an idea or principle but public administration as a distinct discipline of social science, it must have
a clear principle. It may be stated here that in order to be a clear and effective principle the hierarchy must
have definite ideas, processes and rule and these must have-as far as possible-universality (universality not in
the strict sense).
Another criticism against it is that it creates a wall between the superior and his subordinates. But the fact is
that in, an administration everyone is essential. One employee may not always be more important than others.
But in the hierarchical structure’ the black spot is superior and subordinate and this is likely to sour the
relationship. This is undesirable-we must remember this. These shortcomings can, however, be overcome if
cautious steps are adopted. -

Centralisation and Decentralisation

Definition
Another well-known principle of modern administrative system is centralisation. In simple language, centralisation
means concentration of power and authority in a single centre. The well known administrationist, L.D. White,
defines it in the following way. The process of transfer of administrative authority from a lower level to a higher
level of government is called centralisation (Public Administration, p. 37). In the view of White centralisation
is simply the process of transfer from number of centres to a single centre. White has also said that the term
centralisation is also used to mean the transfer of local or regional centres to a single centre. The term
centralisation is generally used in public administration because, in this sphere, administrative powers are
centralised in a particular centre and this is done with an idea that it ensures effectiveness. In public administration
there cannot be a number of centres. Only a particular centre is empowered to take decisions or to issue orders.
This is done to ensure effectiveness. In autocracy, the power or administration is, located in a particular centre
and all the administrative orders are issued from that centre. In democracy, power is generally decentralised.
Again, decentralisation does not rule out the process of centralisation. For example, the vital centre of power
is state administration. The state delegates some of its powers to district levels. All the administrative powers
of the district are concentrated at the centre of the district. From the headquarters of the district all the
administrative orders are issued to all the parts of the district. Hence we say that centralisation is used not in
any absolute sense. Centralisation also means decentralisation.
Advantages and Disadvantages
A state may physically be divided but its administration is a complete whole, it cannot be torn into pieces.
From this notion of administration, the concepts of public administration, the idea of administration; the
centralisation appears. From this standpoint the, well-known administrationists have argued for centralisation.
Of course centralisation does not mean the obliteration of regional arrangements. The chief aim of centralisation
is to ensure uniformity in administrative process or application of administrative rules.
Today federalisation of state is a rule rather than exception and even in unitary states power is -divided among
regional units. But in administration (both federal and unitary) the constitution is all in all. This means that all
acts and decisions of all branches government are subordinate to the laws of constitution.
If administrative power is centralised in a single centre, the policy taking and policy implementation both
become very easy. This may be compared with federal system and unitary system. In federal state both power
and responsibility are divided and, for that reason taking of quick decision becomes difficult. On the contrary,
in a unitary state, power is concentrated in a single centre which helps administration to take quick decision.
Decentralisation of power is no doubt favourable for development of democracy but a democratic government
is always costly. Poor people are to bear the financial burden of democracy. So we are of opinion that for
financial reason centralisation is always desirable.
Centralisation is helpful for unification of state. If power is decentralised that will encourage fissiparous
tendencies. The unity and integrity of the state will be badly affected.
A great advantage of centralisation is that it frees administration from various complexities. Power is centralised
so also decision making process.
The greatest defect of centralisation is it is fully antidemocratic because, in this system, people’s scope of
participation in ‘governmental affairs becomes highly limited-this is not-at all desirable. Because of its
antidemocratic tendency centralisation is very often criticised.
Centralisation may not have any complexities in small states, but in large states it is a potential source of
numerous problems. To administer a big state from a single centre is not an easy task. To put it in other words,
in big states, centralized state administration is, in fact, an impossible matter, and a futile attempt.
Though modern states are nation states, these consist of various small groups and tribes who claim district
identity and separate administration. In other words, for small communities, autonomy is a big demand if it
is not satisfied that will open flood gates of problem and it becomes difficult for administration to tackle it.
Centralization imposes excessive pressure upon central government or administrative system because the whole
political unit is administered from a single centre. We know that with the progress of democracy and passing
of time the pressure of different types upon the administration is increasing rapidly. In a centralized political
system the central government is constitutionally bound to carry the burden because there is no alternative
arrangement of power sharing.
In this set-up the regional issues are neglected which is quite undesirable. It is because the regional authority
has no voice to raise. But justice demands that in a real democratic structure all the parts shall have a say in
the central government and the regions shall be allowed to enjoy autonomy. Because of all these centralization,
now-a-days, is not adjudged as a desirable system.
Decentralization: Definition
The opposite of centralisation is decentralisation Central idea is in centralisation- administrative power is
centralised in a single centre. But the opposite picture is to be found in decentralisation. In decentralisation not
only administrative power is decentralised but in. several cases the decision-making processes and power are
also scattered among several branches or centres and this is done for the betterment of administrative efficiency,
Decentralisation is to some extent, analogous to hierarchical system. Because the whole administrative system
is divided among several bases or regions and there is a form of hierarchy in this division or distribution of
power. At the extreme top there is the highest decision-making authority and in all crucial matters the central
authority possesses the ultimate power to take final decision. But constitution also empowers the regional
authorities to deal with the exclusively regional issues and matters and in this regard the central power cannot
in normal circumstances interfere. Though the authority is fully empowered to decide the important national
issues, the regional authorities can express there opinion if situation demands so. In fact the best illustration
of decentraiisation is a federal system. At present decentralisation, in very state, is a legal and constitutional
system which implies that power (including responsibility) is divided between centre and the regional. Authorities
by basic law or constitution and in normal course this decentralisation or division of power cannot be altered
whimsically. Constitution has provided. Special procedure for the change of power structure. We can say that
decentralization is a constitutional system. This particularly holds good in federal governments. Hence it is not
a whimsical attempt of few self-styled leaders or power-seekers, it is everywhere backed by the basic law of
land. It is a part of modern administrative system.
Arguments for Decentralisation
Decentralisation has been strongly supported on the specific idea that with the change of time and progress
of society the responsibilities and functions of public administration have enormously increased. If there is
centralization of a particular stage the general welfare of society will be seriously affected. One particular centre
will not be able to shoulder the additional burden created by changes and specially for this reason decentralization
of power and responsibilities has been supported.
The hackneyed argument against decentralization is if power is decentralized the central government will be
a weakened one and this form of government will not be in a position to deal with serious problems or
complicated national issues or forces threatening the unity and integrity of the nation. Needless to say that such
type of arguments is untenable because to deal such situation the constitution always makes alternative and
special arrangements.
Some people generally say that in a decentralized structure there is possibility of conflict between central and
local authorities. Again we hold the view that this apprehension has no practical importance. In every decentralized
system powers and responsibilities are clearly defined and distributed among several centres. This nips in the
bud the possibility of conflict between the centre and regional authorities. Hence decentralization has its way
to go ahead.
A strong argument for decentralization of local or regional issues and problems are to be dealt with at local
or regional levels. The power at the centre has nothing to do with the regional problems. We here quote the
observation of a well-known critic-the success of the national determination depends upon the successful
adaptation of administration to peculiarities of all problem areas. The effectiveness of the whole plan cannot
be divorced from the success or failure of its application in all the regions which make up the total problems.
The central authority must allow the local authorities to be involved to solve the local issues complicated.
Specialists have argued that issues like flood control, social forestry, to stop soil erosion etc. are by nature local
issues or problems and the regional administration shall be empowered to solve all these.
Decentralization, today, is an important issue and, at the same time, a vexed problem. A large number of
people who want democracy give their verdict in favour of decentralization. On the contrary, many people
strongly support quick decision and solution to national or non-national problems. These people do not support
decentralization. Hence there are numerous hurdles on the way of decentralization. Many people of developing
nations think that decentralization unnecessarily delays solution of important problems and stands on the way
of decentralization. Many people of developing nations think that decentralization unnecessarily delays solution
of important problems and stands on the way of national progress and unity and integrity of nation. Viewed
from this background it has been suggested that progress must be given. Viewed from this background it has
been suggested that progress must be given priority in all situations and not decentralization. The very nature
of decentralization is to proceed slowly and step by step. In a democratic government there are numerous
pressure and interest groups whose chief aim is to give priority to the parochial and sectional interest even at
the cost of national interests. A democratically elected government under peaceful and normal circumstances
cannot impose restrictions on these groups. The centralists strongly argue for imposing restrictions on these
groups and, on the other hand, the decentralists put pressure to allow freedom of action. Hence there is a
controversy between centralization and decentralization.
Decentralisation and development
Of late it has been found that there is a close relationship between freedom and development. Particularly,
Amartya Sen in his noted work development as Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2000) has thrown profuse
light on the close relationship between freedom and development. needless to say that the maximum development
of freedom is possible in a decentralized political structure. In such a system people get enough scope to
exercise their political and other rights and this situation is quite congenial for economic development. Let us
quote him:
“The approach of his book (development as Freedom) is mainly an attempt to see development as a process
of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy. In this approach expansion of freedom is viewed as both
(1) that primary end. (2) the principal means of development. They can be called, respectively, the “constitutive
role” and the “instrumental role of freedom in development” (p.16). he further observes, “Development in this
sense is the process of expanding human freedoms, and the assessment of developing has to be informed by
this consideration.”
The implication of Sen’s view is quite abvious. A nation or a community in order to achieve targets of
development, cannot, under any circumstance, neglect the proper realization of freedom. I am of opinion that
political and other powers ought to be decentralized for the realization of freedom and this situation is
anathema to development. Decentralization means people will have scope or opportunity to participate on their
own affairs and they also known how to utilize the local resources for the progress of their own local area.
Amartya Sen has argued that deprivation in any of its form blocks the process of development centralization
forcefully acts in favour of deprivation. Deprivations disheartens people and the consequence is retardation of
development in economic field.
Even the United Nations emphasizes the importance of decentralization as a means of achieving efficiency.
Efficiency in any organization is a very coveted goal and it must be achieved though decentralizing the
activities. Needles to say that the policy of decentralization was always followed, is being followed and will
be followed in future. It is a basic demand of democracy that power should be spread to the grassroot level
and people of all walks of life should have the opportunity to participate in all affairs of society. This is the
key-factor of development. According to Amartya Sen, development comes through instrumental freedom and
according to Sen these instrumental freedoms, are political freedoms economic facilities, social opportunities.
Decentralization of power and administration guarantees these. So there is a close relationship between freedom,
decentralization and development. In Indian the Planning Commission takes special interest in decentralizing
the planning at first at Central level, state levels and then to district levels. The chief purpose is to create
interests in the mind of the people in development work. So decentralization is a potential factor of economic
development and the Indian administrators have fully realized it. Let people understand what they want and
let them do their own job by utilizing the source available at local level.
Unity of Command
Unity of command is one of the fourteen principles of Fayol regarding the management of an organization.
For better discipline and improved management it has been suggested by Fayol that an employee will be
responsible only to one master or boss and no one else. It is mainly due to the fact that if an employee is
compelled to carry out the orders of more than one master, that will create confusion in mismanagement.
The organisation will be plunged into problem. The term unity of command does not admit of any difference
of opinion in the administration. It implies that in management there shall be transparency and when the chief
executive issues command or order this shall be treated as final.
Henri Fayol thought that for the better and efficient management it is essential that unity of command should
be strictly followed. Fayol has said that there are three things in the idea of unity of command-the person who
issues command or order, the employee who carries out the command that is executes the order and, finally,
if the organisation is being managed in accordance with the order. Fayol observed that in the French military
department the principle of unity of command was strictly followed and according to Fayol that produced good
results. Still today in many states (in some departments this principle is strictly followed) the existence of this
principle comes to our notice. Henri Fayol was quite eager to implement this principle in the management
world of France and from the history of public administration we come to know that it achieved success.
In the opinion of Fayol the crucial aspects of unity of command are-there must exist an authority who has
the Power of right to issue order, the power to extract obedience, and there is an atmosphere of implementation.
A number of objections have been raised against this principle and one such has been made by some specialists
such as Dimock and Dimock. They are of opinion that if the organisation is small in size the principle will
have some practical importance that is it may or will be executed. Even in military department the unity of
command has been fruitfully implemented. But in general public administration or civil adbinistration the
principle cannot be implemented. Particularly if the organisation happens to be large, there is not one person
to give orders. A worker may have to serve more than one master and in that case he will carry out the orders
of whom. This relates to the structure of‘ one mangement. In that situation an employee cannot say that he
will carry out the order of a particular boss and not other bosses. In many organisations there is a group of
managers and all of them are authorised to issue command. The unity of command principle will create
confusion in such an organisation. Some people say that in Fayol’s time there was no existence of large
organisation.
There is another drawback of this principle. For better or efficient management the principle of coordination
should be strictly followed. But some critics say that in their principle the coordination has no importance.
In modem organisation the division of labour or division of work is sincerely followed. But many critics are
of opinion that there is conflict between unity of command and division of labour or division of work.
The size of the organisation is expanding day after day and in this background the utility of this principle is
decreasing gradually. There- must exist strict and effective coordination among all the departments of an
organisation.
Simon in his Administrative Behaviour has vehemently criticised this principle. He does not contribute to the
idea that if the principle of unity of command is sincerely followed that will result in the efficiency and better
management of the organisation. The whole idea is exaggerated. Simon has said that the efficiency of a
managment depends on a number of factors and the unity of command is one of them. But this is not an
important one. Simon has further said that the unity of command is against the well-known principles of
specialisation. Let us quote him: “The real fault that must be found with this principle is that it is incompatible
with the principle of specialization”.
It is said that for the better management of any modern organization both specialization and unity of command
are indispensible and in that case both cannot co-exist. He has further observed that the unity of command
is an over simplified principle. Modern organisation is too complex to apply it. Simon has said that when the
specialization and unity of command are in conflict situation the management will be complex.
Pater Self has criticized it from another standpoint. He says that the principles in its full form is “unworkable”.
Let us see what he says” “The modified unity of command model is more often accepted in theory, but the
coordinative and arbitrative power of the line supervisors is often much les than the theory suggests. Unity of
command often suggest no more than the existence of procedures for settling disputes”. In conclusion we are
of opinion that because of these shortcomings there is no reason to reject the principle. To speak the truth no
principle of public administration is free from defects and the unity of command is no exception. Instead of
saying of command

Span of Control
Definition and Nature
Let us define the principle in the words of Nicholas Henry: “Span of control means that a manager can
properly control only a limited number of subordinates, after a certain number is exceeded, communication of
commands grows increasingly garbed and control becomes increasingly ineffective and loose”. In other words,
there is a limit to everything and in public administration an officer cannot control unlimited number of
subordinates. The concept was originally applied in military department and later on the members of scientific
school-borrowing it from the military department-introduced it to public administration. Some administrationists
believed that the management of an organization could remarkably be improved by increasing the number of
subordinates but that failed to make any impact upon the improvement of the organizations.
After prolonged experimentation it was found that there was a limit to the span of control of which means
that an executive can never control ‘the activities of unlimited employees. Peter Self argues, “The most specific
of the principles of the “scientific” school was that the span of direct supervision should be limited” (p. 27).
It has been suggested that chief executive can control at most six subordinates and if more employees are put
under his supervision that will lead to chaos or mismanagement. It has been maintained that even an officer
with high degree of efficiency and large amount of administrative knowledge cannot control large number of
workers. The concept, practically, wants to, say this.
Peter Self enumerates some factor that are relevant for this principle. These are: (a) The time and attention
which a supervisor can give to the control of his subordinates. In other words, a supervisor cannot have
unlimited energy and power. He can supervise only a limited number of employees. (b) The effectiveness of
control depends upon the quality and intelligence of the workers. A supervisor cannot control large number
of workers whose intelligence is miserably low. (c) Span of control, again, depends upon another factor which
is nature of work. This implies. That if the work is of complicated nature and requires special management
skill an executive cannot control large number of employees.
Moreover, the specialists are of the view that the principle of span of control has a close link with the quality
and nature of control or supervision. The control may be closed or superficial. If it is of former category it
is beyond the capacity of the executive to control a large number of workers. But if the executive is empowered
to supervise superficially he can control large number of employees. The supporters of the span of control
must take this aspect into account. It has also been said that the effectiveness of control to a large extent
depends upon the internal condition or management of the organisation. If the management is of high standard
and there exists a good deal of coordination and good relation among the employees a chief executive can
easily control a large number of workers. But if the opposite situation prevails the supervising power of the
executive will face troubles. The mentality, outlook, behaviour etc. of the workers must also be brought under
active consideration while analysing the principle of span of control.
Evaluation
Critics of the span of control do not lay great faith on this principle. Herbert Simon says, “a restricted span
of control inevitably produces exessive red tape, for each contact between organisation and members must be
carried upward until a common superiors found” (Simon). Critics further say that if the principle is strictly
followed that will inevitably result in red-tapeism which will harm the management and development of the
organisation. If the organisation is quite large and if it is divided into a number of sections, and if there is a
head in every section-it will be very difficult for the organisation to arrive at a decision. Even the mangement
will not be able to decide anything quickly. Red-tapeism is a natural consequence of the application of the
principles.
Simon has suggested that for effectiveness of the principle the span of control must be extended as far as
possible. But here is again a problem. If the span of control is extended liberally it may not work up to
satisfaction. The organisation will face serious problems. Taking of decision will take long time. Apart from
this an executive has limit to his power or capacity. It is not possible to manage a large number of employees.
There will arise a problem in discipline. Is it possible for an. executive to manage a large number of workers?
Simon has raised the question.
There are examples of effectiveness of their principle in military administration. But there is a basic difference
between military administration and public administration. In any civil administration there is very little
strictness of rule whereas in military administration the strictness in principle is followed. This difference puts
the principle in a lot of uncertainty. The application of military rule in civil administration is not possible.

Line And Staff

Definition and Origin
Another administrative principle popular in public administration is Line and Staff. Some public administrationists
call it a “defective hierarchy”. In any organisation, it is said, there are generally two types of employees-one
type is called line and the other is called staff. Every enterprise or organisation has certain goals and it is the
function of the members of the line to translate the goals into reality. On the other hand, the members of the
staff agency help; in all possible ways, the members of the line to achieve the objective. For example, in the
construction of a bridge, both line and staff are involved in the construction Work. The line members are
directly engaged in the construction of the bridge. But the line members alone cannot complete the construction
work if they are not assisted by other members or employees or workers. These employees are known as staff.
Their function is to supply materials, assist the line members in their work. Hence both the line and staff
employees are crucial in the attainment of goal. White maintains “they (line) are the central elements of any
administrative system” (p. 195). From the observation of White it is .quite clear that line employees are very
important for the management of any organisation. But equally important are staff members.
As to the origin of the principle it may be observed that the line and staff concept was originally introduced
in military services. Peter Self says that originally the public administration as plagued by many problems and
in order to solve them some public administrationists borrowed this principle from military services and then
applied general public administration. Peter Self writes: “They generally have used t is notion of staff in a
restricted sense. The staff ’s function is to assist the chief executive by providing information, formulating
possible courses of actions, coordinating ‘decisions and reporting on results” (p. 122). Gulick calls these
functions of staff agency as “Knowing, Thinking and Planning”. Regarding line and staff Peter Self says:
“The ruling idea was that the actual decision-making is the exclusive responsibility of the chief executive, and
of the line operators who work under his control, and that staff assistants exercise no power beyond the
influence of their idea upon the chief himself. In this way the model of a hierarchical pyramid can be faithfully
respected” (p. 122). In the opinion of L.D. White, “A staff is an agency {advisory to the high ranking official,
but without operating responsibilities”. In other words, the staff members are simply the assistants of the chief
executive. They are very crucial for the management of the organisation, but, unfortunately, they hold no
responsibility.
We thus find that in the concept of line and staff there is a clear hierarchy and in the military services this
hierarchical structure prevailed. The hierarchy is, of course, inevitable because of the fact that in every form
of organisation there are some employees who are very, important for both policy-making and leadership
providing functions. This type of function cannot be expected from all types of employees and, naturally, a
hierarchical structure must arise. There is, of course, ample scope of promotion. But that does not rule out the
hierarchical structure. White and Gulick have observed that for better and effective management of an organisation
the live and staff system is very important.
Relationship
(1) In the hierarchical structure generally more importance is given to line agency or members of the line and
less importance to staff members. According to Nigro and Nigro the line employees are important for the
management of the organisation. Policy-making is the most important part of an organisation and this job
is done by the line members. Particularly this happens in United States of America. But the members of
the staff help the line members in numerous ways such as to furnish data, to suggest new process, to give
advice. The line members never ignore these.
(2) The members of the line are important officers and they are directly involved in the decision-making
process. But making of decision is not all. This must be executed and generally this job is performed by
the staff employees. Generally complexities arise and the staff employees solve them. In practice it has
been found that on every problem the staff members cannot consult the line members. This creates an
important aspect of the relationship between the two.
(3) According to NIgro and Nigro in any metro three are different types of services which the members of
the metro there are different types of very important such as fire brigade service, law and order maintenance
service, water supply, electricity service etc. these services are under the direct supervision of line. On the
other hand park, transport, recreation, etc. are generally maintained by the staff department of metro
administration. It is to be noted here that the two separate departments perform or provide metro services-
they are not quite different from each other. Both line and staff constitute a complete whole. Name and
nature of service may be different but, they constitute a whole.
(4) The personnel of the line agency are very important and many of them hold vital position in the organization.
But it is to be remembered that these vital person of the organization cannot start their functions from
zero. From the analysis of organization we come to know that the staff members prepare the field from
which the line members begin their activities. Remembering this Nigro and Nigro have observed: These
services (personnel, materials, finance, instruments etc.) have supportive in nature or indirect in their
contribution to the organistion’s objective. What Nigro and Nigro have wanted to emphasise is that the
towering importance and personality of a particular individual is not capable of the over-all improvement
of the organization. In many countries of the world there are public service commission’s whose function
is to select right persons for the right posts. The public Service Commission selects persons for both line
and staff agencies and it also decides the eligible persons for both agencies. From this it transpires that
the Public Service Commission gives due important to both agencies.
(5) Dimock and Dimock, in their Public Administration, have made the following comment on the relationship
between the two agencies: “Generally speaking, line constitutes action, staff advice, line is hierarchical,
staff collateral, line is authority, staff influence, what the correct relationship should be between the two
types of activity has long been a matter of debate.” The exact relationship between the line and staff has
not yet reached a stable phase and it will never reach. But the fact is that for a better management of an
organization both these agencies are indispensable. Every student of public administration must remember
this point.
(6) The well-known public administrationist, Mooney, has drawn our attention to another aspect of relationship
between the two. The members of the staff agency supply necessary data and important facts which are
necessary for the line agency. While doing this work the members of the staff agency guide and dominate
the line members. In numerous instances it has been found that the members of the line agency depend
upon the help and service of the staff members. Let us quote Mooney: “Though all decisions must remain
with the directing head, it is imperative that these problems should come to him predigested with all the
though and research that organized staff service can below upon him” (Waldo: Ideas and issues of Public
Administration, article by Mooney, p. 101). In the opinion of Mooney the members of the staff can be
compared with the eyes, ears and hands of the line. Let me again quote Mooney: “The staff is an
expansion of personality. It means more eyes, more ears and more hands to aid him in forming can
carrying out his plans”. (op. cit., p. 101).
(7) Strictly speaking the line and staff are two sides of the same coin. The progress of the organization
depends on the cordial relationship between the two branches of public administration. These two divisions
are hierarchically arranged but in practice they coordinate with each other. “Line and staff are coordinates
operating not in hierarchical relationship but on horizontal plane.”
Functions of Line Agency
The line agency of an organization performs the following functions:
(1) The most important function of the line agency is policy-making and decision-formulating. L.D. White and
many other theoreticians of public administration have suggested that for the proper management of an
organization clear cut policy formulation is to be ensured and the chief executive along with other
important members of the line agency formulate policy and take decision. White has said: “The capacity
to make decisions is an essential quality in the line hierarchy.” Of course behind every decision there is
an important role of the chief executive and other top officials and the decision is a collective product.
(2) In parliamentary system of government the function of line agency is different. The ministers generally
provide a generally provide a general outline of policy and the departmental heads keep those guidelines
in mind and, in accordance with those, formulate the policy. It is to be remembered that the main work
of policy or decision is done by the members of the line.
(3) After the formulation of policy the members of the line agency send it to various departments of the
organization, explain it among them and, if there is any controversy or conflict of opinion, the line agency
explains and clarifies. In parliamentary system some important decisions are sometimes taken by the
President or Prime Minister and the responsibility of elaborating or explaining falls upon the members of
the line agency.
(4) There is a chain of function. The ministers may order the line agency to collect data or material required
for the formulation of policy. But the members of the line agency themselves do not do the job. The staff
members also always do not do the job, it is done by subordinates.
(5) Preparation and implementation of plan falls upon the shoulder of the line agency. During the last five
or six decades many countries have adopted the system of planning as a means to achieve the targets of
development. The general outline of planning is done by a body known as planning commission or any
other body. But preparation of planning (in all its forms and divisions) is, in fact, done by the line agency.
White has said: “There is an immense amount of planning in the field of city administration at all levels,
municipal state, regional and national”.
(6) The preparation of planning is important and more important is resource collection. This job is done by
the members of the line. In mixed economy the resource collection is very difficult and the members of
the line agency of this job and shoulder the trouble.
(7) Planning is a comprehensive term. In it is included development of industry, agriculture and numerous
other sectors of the economy. The members of the line agency take full responsibility of all these. Again,
there is another related function the distribution of the fruits of planning among all sections of society,
is an important matter and the line looks after it.
(8) Line consists of top bureaucrats and in democracy general public have no favourable assessment about it.
Nepotism corruption etc., are levelled against it. In order to guard bureaucracy against these charges the
line agency adopts the principle of self control and self-criticism. It also rectifies its own faults.
(9) Line agency, to meet the requirements of time and change, reorganises itself. It tries to find out how to
raise the level of efficiency and to devise ways to meet the growing demands of the people.
Functions of the Staff
(1) The data, materials and other ingredients essential for the determination of, policy or decision are supplied
by the members of the staff agency. If these are not properly furnished by the members of the staff, line
could not proceed at all.
(2) Gulick has divided the function of staff into three categories such as knowing, thinking and planning.
These ale interesting anti important functions.
(3) Peter Self has analysed the functions of staff from another perspective. He says: “If the staff do function
as extensions of their chief persona, it is clear that their tasks cannot be precisely specified. They will have
to attune themselves to the chief ’s personal predilections and style of administration, and concern themselves
with those matters which he considers most urgent” (p. 123).
(4) Many administrationists argue that the functions of the staff largely depend on the size of the organisation.
This is correct everywhere. In large organisations the responsibilities of the members of line agency are
quite large. Naturally the functions of staff cannot be fixed or stated beforehand. Let us see what Dimock
and Dimock say on this issue: “In addition to the advisory function, staff departments now begin to get
over the line actions including issuing order directly to persons in the line of command. A finance
 department performs the staff functions of devising better methods of cost accounting, but also performs
the line functions of keeping books and disallowing expense vouchers” (p. 278). It appears from this
observation that, for the betterment of the organisation, both the line and staff agencies perform duties
of each other and the classical difference of duty is temporarily withdrawn or forgotten. This is inevitable.
(5) Sometimes the merit, intelligence and some other qualities of the staff members are better than those of
the line members: In many organisations, these I are recognised and duly prized. The staff members,
having these special qualities, are entrusted with the duties of the line agency. Very often this happens.
Sometimes it has been found that the chief executive officer, by virtue of his higher qualification, is
appointed to important post. But he lacks the abc of management; and, in that situation, the chief
executive seeks advice from his subordinate or an ordinary employee. The study of public administration
reveals that this is no exception or rare case. In this connection we can also note that an ordinary employee
of the staff is politically powerful which means that he has political influence and, in such a situation the
executive of the line agency may seek advise or assistance from the staff member.
(6) It is generally said that the primary duty of a member of staff agency is to tender advice or suggestion
to the line agency. But the advice giving duty is sometimes vague and, naturally, for the improvement of
the organisation, both line and staff work hand in hand. This is the picture of the real situation.
(7) In an organisation there exists a chief executive officer. The burden of responsibility may be excessive,
but he cannot avoid this. In that situation he is compelled to take any type of a administrative help from
his subordinate who belongs to the staff agency. The members of the staff solve many crucial problems
faced by the members of the line. In this way the line and staff follow a principle of coordination and
cooperation among themselves.
Line and Staff in Cabinet System
We have so far discussed the line and staff concept in general. Peter Self believes that the concept has a
different meaning and application in cabinet form of government (p 128). Let us start our analysis with his
comment: “When we turn to the place of staff services in a system of cabinet government, rather different
issues emerge.” His argument is that, in the cabinet form of government, the principle of line and staff is not
prominent at all. In. the cabinet system of United King do both the executive and legislature are separate
organs and their functions are separate since the functions of the executive are clearly well demarcated.
This particular principle has lost its important part of prominence. Only on definite issues the line agency and
staff agency work. In general, public administration or in the administrative system, line and staff idea is so
much important that this cannot be ignored.
There is another special aspect of this issue in Britain. According to Peter Self, the lines of coordination and
control are horizontal rather than vertical. In Britain the superior or powerful officers are generally not found
to control or substantially dominate the subordinate staff. ‘In other words, the chief executive does not enjoy
enormous power and authority and the subordinate officers or employees are simply order carrying and
implementing persons. In administrative system there are parallel departments and each department imposes
collective discipline and responsibility upon itself. In fact, there is no higher officer to do this job. In general
system o line- and staff, this is not available.
In U.K. the general administration is mixed with politics because a minister, who is out and out a political
person, is the head of a department and the civil servants work under his authority. Under the supreme
authority and guidance of the minister the policy is formulated and decision is taken. The chief executives or
the departmental heads have some role to play but it is the, minister who is empowered to utter the final word.
This is not in consonance with the general line of administration.
The treasury department is highly powerful and it is a cohesive branch of government. At the same time, it
is a political organ because the ministers are political persons. Again, there is an administrative system consisting
of, bureaucrats and other officers or employees. The emergence of controversial issues is not a very common
affair in cabinet system because the decision of the minister is final. The minister is committed to do something
and this commitment is to the electorate. Naturally, the bureaucracy cannot change the decision of the minister.
The scope of controversy in cabinet system is not very wide and when a controversy arises it does not take
much time to die down.
In this connection Peter Self further observes: “In terms of the staff and line theory the position of the British
Prime Minister has caused frequent confusions. The power of the Prime Minister rests upon his right to hire
and fire other ministers, his personal and political appeal as party leader and his role as the chief representative
of the nation in foreign relations” (pp. 130-131). In the cabinet the British Prime Minister is not an all-powerful
person or a dictator, he is simply primes inter pares. Because of all these reasons the principle of line and staff
has not full implication in the British Cabinet system.

Coordination
Definition and Nature
In public administration coordination is regarded as a very important principle. It is also considered as a concept
Dimock and Dimock have defined it in the following way: Coordination is placing many aspects of an
enterprise in proper position relative to each other and to the programme to which they are a part; it is
harmoniously containing agents and functions towards the achievement of desired goal. Every enterprise or
business organisation has various aspects or sections and each is entrusted with a particular job or responsibility.
But this diversification or balkanisation does not deny the fact that all the sections are crucial to the whole
organisation. Every part of the enterprise aims at the attainment of the general purpose and, if so, there must
exist give-and-take policy among all parts. This is called coordination. Coordination thus implies that no part
of the enterprise is completely unrelated with other parts.
In the light of the above definition we can note certain features of this principle:
(1) Coordination is an essential aspect of any organisation-big and small. Especially the large organisation with
several departments or sections cannot work satisfactorily without this.
(2) In every modern public administration control is essential. The departments cannot function whimsically.
They must follow certain regulations and this ensures coordination. Let us see what Dimock and Dimock
say in this regard “Control is the analytical method by which the blend is regularly tested and evaluated:
Coordination and control close the circle in the administrative process. Both Dimock and Dimock say that
organisation, control and coordination all must be viewed simultaneously.
(3) The concept of coordination comes from the idea of interdependence of different branches of the
organisation. No organisation of modern world can expect to be a single unit. Naturally the division of
the into sections is indispensable, so also the coordination.
(4) Some well-known public administrationists now-a-days have started to talk about functional coordination
which means that in a big organisation there are, number of sections, but in view of importance, all are
not in the same level, some are more -important than others. That is why more important departments
are put under one umbrella and the purpose of such step is to achieve functional coordination. In recent
years, this form of coordination has gained immense popularity.
(5) Decentralisation is a related term of coordination. In organisation or a government’s administrative system,
powers are decentralised for the purpose of better management. In the same line of thought the specialists
have suggested about decentralisation. So far as this principle is concerned both are different, but their
purpose is more or less the same. Both must be related with each other. The decentralized parts must be
brought under coordination.
(6) Some experts say that the principle of coordination must always see that the aim of the organisation is
not adversely affected. The coordination must always take it into account. If it is found that the main
purpose of the organization is going to be badly affected if coordination is strictly adhered to and in that
case the principle of coordination is to be sacrificed at least temporarily. About this principle the valued
judgement of the experts is caution and farsightedness must be applied before taking any final decision.
Classification of Coordination
Peter Self thinks that in modern organizational system decentralization of power and functions and coordination
among them are not to be treated as last words. Coordination is handicapped by some notions or practical
situations and one such practical situation is the existence of “overhead units”. Peter Self defines the term in
the following language” The overhead units “are not dedicated to the same view of social task as the operating
agency but are concerned with the application of some specialized skill to a particular service or with organizational
maintenance or policy coordination”. So the fact is that all the organizations are not in a position to divide the
functions into various parts. Some organizations perform peculiar or specialized tasks and in those cases there
is a tendency of centralization. Peter Self, however, has divided the coordination into the following categories:
In the first place, there is policy coordination. Some organizations have their own philosophy or ideal objective
and, in this case, when a policy is adopted, it is implemented in an almost centralized way. Naturally the scope
of coordination here is very limited. Only very few departments are concerned with the making and execution
of the policy. The principle of coordination is confined within a few departments. Peter Self calls it policy
Coordination. The decision or policy-making process is limited within a few departments. Hence the scope of
coordination is not wide.
Another type of coordination is resource coordination. For development and planning purposes resources are
to be collected and a particular department cannot do this task. Several departments of government are
involved and for that reason a coordination among all the departments is indispensable. Peter Self says that
necessary coordination and relationship with the non-governmental organization are to be set-up. This requires
another type of coordination and this to be studied with special care.
Peter self ’s final type of coordination is technical cooperation. In this age of advanced technology every
organization always tries to adopt most modern technology and this application of higher technology is spread
over a number of departments. This is inevitable land also inevitable is coordination among various departments
applying technology. Peter self calls this technical coordination. He also says that an organization deals with
legal, purchasing medical, statistical, operational research and many other complicated issues. A coordination
is required research and many other complicated issues. A coordination is required for all the departments. For
such an organization coordination is essential.
Peter self says that the structure and functions of modern organization are so complex that division of task
and responsibilities does not always work satisfactorily. Rather, centralisation appears to be satisfactory. For
example, data collection and technical activities cannot be spread over a number of departments.
The aim of the organisation will be better served if these are confined within one centre or department.
The chief executive will not make any attempt, for decentralisation and then coordination. The consequence
is centralisation is strongly favoured. He further observes: “The wishes of the public employees for more
equality of treatment over pay-scales and career opportunities strengthens the centralisation of personnel
management... these pressures of centralisation run throughout the administrative system” (Peter Self:
Administrative Theories and Politics, p. 137).

Delegation
Definition and Nature
Delegation means to entrust one’s own power and responsibility to another person or group of persons who
are lower in rank and power. In public administration a chief executive transfers his power or part of it to an
employee who is in rank lower to him. In other words, an officer shifts a part of his power to a subordinates.
The purpose of the delegation a devolution of power and authority. Mooney’s definition is stated in the
following words. It means conferring of specified authority by a higher to a lower authority: An executive
transfers some power to his subordinates. The purpose of delegation is to ensure better management.
This transfer of power is also called the devolution of power.
There.-ore three types of deligation—one is downward, the second is upward, and, the third is sideward.
A person of higher authority transfers some of his power to his subordinate person. This is a very common
picture of any organisation. The upward delegation takes place when stockholders delegate powers to the board
of directors. In African tribal areas, tribal chiefs and central authorities exchange power among themselves.
The term delegation is sometimes misunderstood. It never means it is a permanent arrangement. That is,
powers are not delegated permanently. One critic has said: delegation of authority means more than simply
assigning duties to others in more or less detail. The essence of delegation is to confer discretion upon others,
to use their judgement in meeting specific problem within the framework of their duties. The concept of
delegation has a practical aspect when an executive is unable to bear the burden of work he delegates a portion
to others.
What is to be Delegated
Though delegation is an important principle, it cannot be adopted indiscriminately. There are several legal and
constitutional procedures for its application:
(1) A chief executive or an officer of high rank cannot delegate his powers to his subordinates according to
his own sweet will. There are legal and constitutional procedures of delegation which he or she must
scrupulously follow.
(2) The higher authority must see that it will delegate power only to competent and eligible persons. It is
because all the employee of an organisation may not have the ability to carry out a job efficiently.
(3) The executive or any other officer must be convinced that it is not possible for him to do the job alone,
a part requires to be delegated.
(4) The aim of the delegation should be for the general improvement of the organisation.
(5) The size and location of the organisation require delegation. For example, if different branches of the
organisation are situated at various geographical locations and this compels the chief executive to entrust
a part of his job to other persons or parts of organisation.
(6) When new programme or new technology is introduced and the executive himself is not capable to
manage it, in that case the delegation of power or authority is required.
(7) For the avoidance of delay or to serve the purpose of the public better a part of the job of central
organisation is delegated to other branches of the organisation.
 (8) Many organisations are engaged in serving the public and direct contact with the public is essential, then,
for that particular purpose, a part of authority is delegated. These are the cases which stand for the
delegation of power.
Hindrances to Delegation
Though delegation is an essential part of modem organisation, it can never be implemented at random There
are a number of hindrances which stand on the way of delegation. Some of these are:
(1) How much of power is to b delegated to other officers or branches considerably depends on the structure
of the organisation. In other words, the structure must be suitable for delegation.
(2) The purpose of delegation is to get the work done swiftly and properly. If this aim is not achieved, the
objective of delegation will not be successful. Naturally, before delegating power or part of it, this point
will be considered.
(3) The communication system must be quite favourable for delegation. In other words, all the branches of
the organisation will be well-connected with the head office. But this situation does not prevail everywhere.
(4) There must exist a good relationship between the branches and the head office. The branch officer, in
regard to delegation, must cooperate with the head office in this regard. Unfortunately this does not always
exist.
(5) The chief executive cannot always delegate his power to all persons. He can delegate only to those who
are ca able of doing the job and this is a great hindrance.
(6) An executive officer cannot delegate all his powers to another person or branch. Every officer is not
acquainted with it.
(7) Experience sometimes stands on the way of delegation. Everyone cannot do all jobs with efficiency.
In that case delegation of responsibility may not be successful.
(8) Finally, it may be observed that there shall exist legal permission for delegation. In other words, the law
and constitution of the organization must permit the delegation. It has been found that all organization
do not permit delegation. If the organization is small then delegation is not permissible.
 ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSES
Decision-Making
Definition and Nature
There is a difference between administration and administrative processes and if we fail to understand it
confusion is bound to arise. By administration we mean the execution of government’s or authority’s policies or decisions
whereas administrative process implies the methods or procedures that are applied for running the administration. In every
form of administration certain policies or decision are adopted for the management of organization or various
departments of government.
Decision-making is one of the various administrative processes. Let us briefly define it. Simon’s definition runs
as: “Decisions are something more than factual propositions… they are descriptive of a future state of affairs
and this description can be true or false in a strictly empirical sense, but they possess an imperative quality,
they select one future of state of affairs in preference to another and direct behaviour towards the chosen
alternative. In short, they have an ethical as well as factual content’” in this definition Simon has briefly stated
the nature of decision. In his opinion decisions are both factual and ethical. The aim of decision is to take steps
for the future development of an organization or better management of the department under a government.
So we can say that a decision deals with both the present and future of organization.
Stephan Wasby (Political Science—the discipline and its Dimension—An Introduction, p. 131) has defined the idea
from a different background (Conflict Theory). He says: “Decision-making is usually defined as a process or
sequence of activities involving stages of problem recognition, search for information,, definition of alternatives,
and the selection by an actor(s) of one from two or more alternatives consistent with the ranked preferences.”
In every form of public administration there generally arises certain problems which require solution. But the
methods of techniques of solution must follow definite principles. There shall exist clear-cut principles or
procedures which will guide the administrators in running the administration of the organization, or state
department. The decisions will be taken such a way as to maximize the benefits or satisfy the actor’s goal. This
is called “satisficing”.
Briefly stated, decision-making is a part of the management of both private and public organization or department.
Herbert Simon “declared” that a theory of administration should be concerned with the processes of decision
as well as the processes of action. That is public administration is concerned with both action and decision.
Simon says that without decision there can hardly be any action. Authority starts action, but before that it takes
a. decision which means —what action will be taken. The decision or decision-making and action both are
continuous processes. It is due to the fact that the organisation is always under the process of continuous
change. What is appropriate today may be irrelavant next time and in that case the authority will have to take
a new decision and arrangements be made for the implementation of the decision. According to Simon-decision
or decision-making “is a matter of compromise”. It is due to the fact that a decision-maker is faced with a
number of situations problems or alternatives and he will have to make a compromise.

Compromise and Composite

I have just now pointed out that decision or decision-making, according to Simon, is always a compromise and
composite. An executive or concerned authority cannot take a decision at one sitting or quickly. He will have
to bring a number of alternatives or possibilities under consideration before arriving at the final decision.
This process can be stated as a form of compromise. Talking about compromise a critic observes: “Modifications
of organisational objectives usually represented compromises between several groups of potential participants
in order to secure their joint cooperation” (Theory and Practice of Organization, p. 58). An organisation is never
a one-man body. Different persons and groups are directly or indirectly involved in every organisation and
because of this no single man can take a decision. Before arriving at a decision he will have to consult various
groups or persons and number of aspects. Naturally, the ‘decision or approach of a single man cannot be final.
A compromise is always an inevitability.
According to Simon, administration is a group activity. In any administrative system or organization information
and advice flow in all directions. In an open system (an organisation always acts in such a system) an
administrative department cannot keep itself aloof from others. For the better future of the organisation the
authority must keep lively contact with all. This is the premise of compromise. Before taking final decision
the authority must collect all information and test them because the news or information may not be relevant
for the organisation. Simon has said that it is the duty of the administrator to judge or test the value of every
information. Naturally the decision-making is not an easy task. Let us quote Simon: “The ablest administrators
are the first to admit that their decisions are, in general, the sheerest guess-work, that any confidence they
evidence is the proactive shield with which the practical man armours himself and his subordinates from his
doubts (Administrative Behaviour, p. 182). What Simon wants to say is that decision-making is a very important part
of organization.
Simon next says that every decision is a composite decision—which means that behind every decision there are
clear contributions of a number of persons and for that reason it is called a composite decision. It has been said
by Herbert Simon that no decision in an organisation is made by any single person. He writes, “Eden though
the final responsibility for taking a particular action rests with some definite person….. in studying the manner
in which this decision was reached, that is various components can be traced through the formal and informal
channels of communicating to many individuals” (Administrative Behaviour, p. 221). When all the aspects of a
decision are properly considered or scanned it will be found that behind every decision there is contribution
of many individuals or bodies of course, everyone’s contribution may not be very important, but the importance
of a contribution cannot be ignored.
We have earlier noted that for the proper management of public administration it is essential that behind every
decision there must be rationality. Sometimes the term rationality cannot be defined or explained properly.
But the persons associated with the making of decision know, at least partially, what is rational. However, the
term rationality is subject to change with the change of time and circumstances, yet this notion has good deal
of importance in public administration.

Models Of Decision-Making
Incremental Change through Successive Limited Comparisons or Incrementalism
There are several approaches to or models of decision-making process of public administration. One such
model or approach is incrementalism whose author is C.E. Lindblom. Lindblom suggests two alternative
approaches which a policy-maker may adopt. One such approach (or model) is that the policy-maker simply
tries to use all results of methods and tries to find out which method or approach will ensure to him maximum
benefit. This is no doubt a very complicated method and time-consuming. It is generally called incremental
change through successive limited comparisons. In short, it is called incrementalism.
Lindblom has said that the policy-maker may not attempt a long-drawn and comparatively complex process.
Rather, he may set or prepare a very simple goal and disregard the other values or goals. The policy-maker starts
his activities and tries to achieve the goal. He also compares the results or consequences of the limited goal
and after that he tries to reach the final decision. In other words, the policy-maker does not try to embark on
an ambitious project. He confines himself within limited choices, compares the results of those choice and,
finally, decides one. It has been pointed out by a critic that “according to Lindblom the second process is much
commoner and is the fact inevitable. The former assumes intellectual capacities and sources of information
than men in fact do not possess and would make unrealistic demands on time and money in complex-
problems” (Theory and Practice of Organisation, p. 166).
C.E. Lindblom’s approach or model is also called a bargaining approach. It is so called because the policy-maker
makes one type of comparisons among different methods or processes for the purpose of getting maximum
benefits or favourable results for his organization. According to Lindblom, the decision-making is primarily a
value-related or value-laden matter and his objective is to harvest maximum benefits for his organization.
He suggests changes in an incremental way and for that reason it is called incrementalism. He, again, makes
attempt to compare different results derived from different policies.
The incrementalism or bargaining approach is generally used in the case of internal public administration, but
in foreign policies its use is not rare. A decision-maker does not jump upon a decision without bargaining or
comparing the pros and cons of every policy and, after comparing, he generally settles at one. Explaining
Lindblom’s incrementalism, it has been said that in any branch of public administration a policy is never made
permanently, it is once made and remade again and again and the process continues until the policy-maker is
fully satisfied. One critic makes the following observation: “Policy-making is a process of successive
approximation of some desired objective” (p. 167). Lindblom claims that his ‘incrementalism’ or limited
comparison approach is superior to many other approaches or methods because it is practical and is based on
scientific reasoning. Generally, a policy-maker endeavours to arrive at a final decision after comparing the
consequences and the results of policy. The adoption of policy depends upon his satisfaction.

Relational and Extra-rational Model

Y. Dror has suggested an alternative model or approach for policy-making and it is called Rational and Extra-
rational model. It may better be called combination of rational and extra-rational models. Dror says that
Lindblom’s incrementalism — though blessed with some plus points—has certain limitations. Dror says that
Lindblom’s approach is closer to reality. Every policy-maker tries to make a comparison among various values
or policies. He investigates the advantages and drawbacks of every approach and finally decides one. Talking
about the limitations of Lindblom’s model it has been pointed out by a critic that the incremental change by
successive limited comparison is only adequate if the results of present policies are reasonably satisfactory if
there is continuity in the nature of the problems and if there is continuity in the available means for dealing
with it (p. 168).
But Dror says that, in public administration or in the activities of an organization, the same problem does
persist for long time and if the problem changes and situation also changes the Lindblom model may not work
with full satisfaction or may not work at all. Dror further observes that in modern society both knowledge and
techniques change and when this happens Lindblom’s model will be unworkable.
Dror has said that a scanning of modern situation reveals the following: one is, rapid changes in the aspirations
and desires of people are always taking place. He again says that, once an issue is defined, that definition does
not last along. The issue is being redefined persistently and this creates problem for the policy-maker. Finally,
the consumers may be dissatisfied with the activities or policies of that policy-maker. Lindblom’s model fails
to solve these issues.
After pointing out the limitations of Lindblom’s incrementalism, Dror has suggested an alternative model
which is known as “normative optimum model” which combines “muddling through” and rational comprehensive
model. The central idea of this model is the foundation of every model should be and ought to be the
maximum amount of rationality and this could be achieved through continuous search and research of
alternatives. Dror has suggested that every organization must decide its own goals and these goals must be
periodically revised reformulated and estimated to cope with change of time and physical circumstances.
For the enhancement of rationality the authority must study the situation from time to time and bring the
situation in its new form under active consideration.
The central aspect of Dror’s model is rationality and muddling through in the vehicle which will ensure rationality.
Dror has said that since rationality is the main aspect of his model the authority must focus its attention to
it. The idea of rationality is a highly complex concept and it is to some extent puzzling. While determining
objectives the policy-maker must bring the resource under his consideration; without resources the objectives
shall never be achieved. In explaining Dror’s model one critic has said: “We should allow a place for interactive
judgment and holistic impressions” (p. 168). There is another suggestion in Dror’s model. The policy-maker
must consider the fruitful application of new techniques and other methods. He has further pointed out that
opinions of experts must be duly considered and if it is not done the rationality concept will be seriously
affected.
Administrative Rationality
J.M. Pfiffner has suggested another model for policy-making. It is known as Administrative rationality. Pfiffner
claims that his administrative rationality is basically different from Lindblom’s model. Let us explain the
administrative rationality model.
“The orthodox concepts of rationality conform to those usually attributed to economic man, the scientific
method and engineering man. Rational decision-making is thought of as the gathering of all pertinent facts,
canvassing the alternatives for action and selecting the one which will produce maximum results through a
thought process…our principal thesis is that administrative rationality differs from orthodox concepts of rationality
because it does take in to account an additional spectrum of facts. These are the facts relative to emotions,
politics, power, group dynamics, personality and mental health.” According, Pfiffner policy-making, considering
all aspects, is a highly complicated issue and it is not determined by any single factor even if the factor is
important.
The policy is not always made from the above but is the resultant of many forces–both seen and unseen. There
are number of issues and forces in the lower echelons which, in one way or other, influences the policy-making.
If the policy is determined at the topmost level and the opinions of lower echelons are not properly considered
the policy may not be able to serve the purpose of the policy-maker. According to Pfiffner, policy is as much
a result of an agreement as command. In other words, a real or practical policy must include the views of all.
Pfiffner has said that personal values have an important part to play in the decision-making process. Let me a quote
a few lines from a commentator. “He concludes that among the “standards of validity” that if a decision has
to be made there may have to be included, (1) some degree of conformance with the personal interests, and
values of the decision-maker, (2) conformance with the values of superiors, (3) acceptability to those who
would be affected by the decision and those who will have to implement it, (4) face validity in the sense that
it looks reasonable in its content, and a (5) built, in justification. Which will furnish excuses and justifications
in case the results are not as hoped”. (Theory of Public Organisation p. 169). This implies that in the field of
policy-making personal values and estimations have special importance and crucial role to play. Every executive
or a man holding key position has his own estimation about the working and future of organization.
He proceeds according to his own reasons and value-judgement. This he tries to apply to making of decisions.
He injects his reason and values into the substance of decision-making. In large number of organizations
personal values, knowledge, reason inject new concepts into the body of decision-making. The experts are of
opinion that the personal values play very important role. “Our research indicates that the organizations are in
general pluralistic in nature. They are not unitary and monocratic, rather federative and cooperative.”
The implication is that large number of persons of various ranks and status play important role in the decision-
making process.
Committee Decisions
R.F. Bales has introduced a “New” element or concept in the decision-making process—it is called Committee
decisions. According to Bales, in practice, decisions are generally taken at various conferences attended by
number of executives and important persons having thorough knowledge about organizations. Bales further
claims that very often the decisions are not made in any particular organization’s meeting. A number of
meetings are held and thread-bare discussions take place. After a lot of discussion dealing with all the possible
aspects the final decision is adopted.
In the conference the participants express their personal views and experiences regarding the policy matters and,
finally, a decision is adopted. The interesting aspect is that the decision is the product of cross-current of views,
it is not a one-man activity. Sometimes discussions proceed on dialectically—which means that the opinion of
one man does not always prevail. The argument or reason of one is followed by a counter-argument and in
this way discussion proceeds. Finally, a decision is taken which contains the important major views of the
participants. It has been said that generally a decision takes several conferences. Bales himself has admitted
that though the committee system is regarded as a factor of decisions yet it may not be a reliable method.
In various cases it has been found that, in the conference, serious disagreements surface and these stand on the
way of arriving at a decision. Bales says that the emergence of disagreement is a serious aspect of the decision-
making process. Sometimes the decision-making is held up due to the disagreements but this is unavoidable.
General Assessment
Herbert Simon was the first man who brought the importance of decision-making in public administration and
functioning of organization to our notice. Subsequently, a good number of experts threw light on it. It is now
held by all that decision-making is a vital aspect of public administration and organization. Without proper or
real decision no organization can achieve success. Simon has further observed that mere decision cannot make
administration successful. It must be realistic. A large number of administrationists have painstakingly thrown
light on the realistic character of decision. Major contributions have their places in our analysis. Simon has
pointed out that all the organizations are in one way or other goal-oriented. Naturally, every organization or
public administration must (while making policy) see that the decision must be able to achieve the goal.
Organisation is not something which will grow and work automatically like natural phenomena. These are
human organizations and behind their origin, growth and functioning there are human efforts and definite
human thought. Barnard has elaborated this aspect in a number of ways. Barnard’s main plank of thought and
argument is cooperation and application of thought and reason and continuous research are the main aspects
of policy-making function. Inter-preting his view-point a critic makes the following observation: “Decision, he
says, tend to be made on a basis relating to organizational purposes, rather than to individual motives or
aspirations” (p. 172). Generally an executive is called the chief architect of an organization. But the fact is that
he alone can never help the realization of the major aims of the organization.
The activities of organization are a continuous process. The experience of the past guide the future. A policy-
maker formulated new policy or revises the present policy on the basis of past experience. The policy-maker
tries to get idea from the past and this is very important. How past works is quite explicit in the following
comment: “In an established organization, scope for decision is constrained by prior decisions, explicit or
implicit, expressed in earlier investments, previously approved budget, moral commitments to individuals and
departments, contracts of employments” (p. 172).
The influences of politics or political ideas and decisions, national and international events cannot be
underestimated. Particularly in this age of globalization and liberalization the international events influence the
policy-making affairs of an organization or public administration. An organization cannot ignore the international
events and phenomena. An export-oriented organization must carefully study the situation of international
market and trade while making important decisions regarding the export of commodities manufactured by it.
It is quite logical and realistic. Personal liking and disliking have very little to do with the working of international
market. In the second half of the last century and even before that major decision-making theories were built-
up and in those years globalization had practically no existence. Today this has gained an important status of
international event and its influence on many major national and international events is quite perceptible.
A balanced analysis of decision-making must take this into account. It may naively be stated that on the
decision-making process of all developing countries there is clear influence of the capitalist countries. It is
because few multinational corporations practically control the world economy, particularly trade, commerce and
commercial activities. Naturally, the organization of the Third World states cannot go beyond this orbit.

Decision-Making And Rationality1

Rationality vs Non-rationality
In the last few pages we have discussed the importance of rationality in the decision-making process. In this
section we intend to throw light on the reverse side of the issue. That is, few eminent experts in public
administration are of the view that rationality does not always play the most vital role. Rather, the role has
been exaggerated. I quote a lengthy passage from Nicholas Henry’s book Public Administration and Public Affairs:
“The one finding unearthed by social scientists about how decision are made in organizations that seems
irrefutable is that the process is only minimally rational. The principal reason for this non-rationality is that the
decisions are made by people, and people are less tan logical. Herbert Simon, perhaps more than any other
social scientist, enlightened the world about this darker side of decision-making” (p. 89).
Simon has said that decision-makers give less importance to rationality and more importance to on-going of
the world and the opinions of the decision-maker about the numerous incidents that take place. According to
Simon, the decision-makers do not always attach importance to real phenomena or realities at hand Henary
interprets Simon’s judgement in the following words: “Simon held that all human beings make decisions on the
basis of worldview that reflects past experiences and perceptions, but not necessarily the realities at hand.
Simon called this phenomenon the decision premise.” Simon has said that individual values may have importance
to particular persons but these do not claim equal importance in the field of decision-making arena.

The Bounds of Individual Rationality

I have already noted that there is a certain amount of individual rationality in the making of policy for public
administration or the management of organization. But Simon, in a number of places, emphasizes that the
contribution of rationality has been exaggerated. He calls this bounded rationality. Why bounded rationality?
Simon’s arguments are: (1) An organization is quite large. (2) Decision-making is a complex matter. (3) Decision
of an organization is subject to change with the change of time and circumstances. (4) Human mind and
rationality cannot comprehend all possible situations. (5) One psychologist has said that a mind can distinguish
maximum seven categories of phenomena at a time. (6) Human mind is guided by emotion and in the field of policy-
making the emotions have no place. (7) Many men are guided by self-love, heuristic feeling, and also nepotism.
One cannot force an individual to be free from all these. But all these create obstacles on the way of an
impartial policy.
A bold and comprehensive policy requires a good amount of intelligence, experience, farsightedness, and many
other qualities. The advocates of bounded rationality emphatically assert that there is doubt how many people
possess these qualities. There are various aspects of public administration and organization. For this reason a
comprehensive policy is to be made. But the practical situation teaches us that even persons of exceptional
qualities cannot make a policy which will cover all the aspects of public administration and organization.
It is said that policy-making is a group product. Several persons meet together and—after elaborate discussion—
policy is formulated. But this is highly oversimplified. Differences of opinion must crop up and that will create
hindrances on the way of making a policy. This is not an imaginary situation.

Bounded Organisational Rationality

Nicholas Henry also points out that there are also bounds of organizational rationality. It means that an
organization cannot take decisions in accordance with its own principle or objective. Nicholas Henry writes:
“The decision-maker’s own organization constitutes most of his or her decision-making environment, and this
organizational environment can itself exude bounded rationality, and even irrationality” (p. 88). In other words,
in several cases, an organization cannot enjoy enough freedom to make policy by applying its own rationality.
I have already pointed out that in the present day world no particular organization can be treated as a solitary
institution. The globalization has to a large extent obliterated the geographical has considerably increased.
In this situation the executives or bureaucrats quite naturally differ among themselves on the assessment of
the global situation. This situation may create problems for the formulation of a comprehensive policy for the
organization.
In an earlier analysis I have pointed out that politics and administration are not completely separate from each
other and because of this very often politics plays an important part in policy-making affairs, and the nature
of politics in it creates divisions among the top policy-makers. There is also another limitation. An aggrieved
officer may accept the majority decision. But, in practice, he may not extend his helping hand for the execution
of the policy. Our point is the policy is rational, the decision was quite practical. But if a main actor does not
cooperate wholeheartedly the implementation of the policy will receive a serious setback and this is unavoidable.

Satisficing Rationality
We shall now focus our attention to the concept satisficing rationality. Because of the limitations the concept
of rationality cannot be rejected and, keeping this in mind, Simon has suggested a middle course. The chief
executive will not normally try to achieve maximum rationality while formulating a policy. Rather he will try
to arrive at a satisfactory stage. Let us put it in the worlds of Simon. He says: “The key to the simplification
of the choice process is the replacement of the goal of maximizing with the goal of satisficing of finding a course
of action that is good enough.” Simon says that the satisficing model is the rational practical and on this ground,
an acceptable course that is generally adopted. Almost identical view has been expressed by Henry. He says:
“Because the rationality of decision-makers is so limited by the human brain and organizational culture,
decisions are rarely, if ever, optimal” (p. 89).
If we analyse Simon’s concept the following features appear before us: The chief executive or organizer will
always try to maximize the benefit. But at the same time he faces certain limitations. For this reason he tries
to reach a satisfying level. Let us put it in the words of Simon: “Most human decision-making, whether
individual or organizational, is concerned with the discovery and selection of satisfactory alternatives. Only in
execeptional cases it is concerned with the discovery and selection of optional alternatives.” He further
observes: “The central concern of administrative theory is with the boundary between the rational and non-
rational aspects of human social behaviour. Administrative theory is peculiarly the theory of intended and
bounded rationality of the behaviour of human beings. Who satisfice because they have not the wits to
maximize.
 Communication and Control
Definition, Meaning and Nature
Communication is another administrative process and in the absence of communication the function of the
organization will reach practically a full stop. Simon has said: “Without communication there can be no
organization, for there is no possibility of group influencing the behaviour of the individual.” The administration
of an organization is a continuous process and it is the function of the communicative system to maintain this
continuity. We can therefore say that communication makes administration mobile. Let us quote another
definition: “Communication is the process of establishing commonness through the movement of ideas,
thoughts and feelings etc. from one to another or between groups of persons. In other words, it is an exchange
of facts, thoughts, information, emotions resulting in a shared understanding (The Statesman, Kolkata edition,
15.11.1993).
Karl W Deutsch is a renowned authority on the concept of communication. In his opinion, “The communication
means the transfer of messages containing quantities of information” (Quoted by Wasby, p. 149). According
to Dentoch, communication is a type of channel through which messages or information or directions pass
from one stage or group of organization to another. Even assessment or emotions pass through the channel and
this comes to be treated as communication. Hence we are opinion that the system of communication does not
pass only news from one branch or stage to another branch or stage. What is essentially required for the general
welfare or betterment of an organization comes under the broad umbrella of communication. Communication
is a type of give and take or in other words exchange of news and views.
In a different context Harold Lasswell in his Structure and Function of Communication in Society has made the
following remark about communication. He says: Who says what in which channel to whom with what effect.
Though Laosswell said this in the background of communication and its immense importance in society, the
same idea can conveniently be applied to public Administration and organization. An important aspect or
nature of communication is beginning from the top views and opinions among themselves and, in this way,
every organization functions. Naturally we can say that communication is a process and the communicated
information or opinion is a thing. We thus find that, in communication, both the process and communicated
thing work simultaneously.
The word common is the central aspect of communication. This is revealed in the origin of the word. The word
communication is derived from the Latin word communis and communis is derived from commune. Some
scholars say that the real origin of the word communication is communis. In all the cases the meaning is common.
The communication removes the barriers that are found among various sections of the organization. Hence
commonness stands at the central position of the organization and communication makes it possible.
Through the process of communication an organization works in a united way and form. The members
exchange views among themselves. It is to be noted here that the process is always continuous because the
functions of the organization are also continuous. Both function and communication work continuously.
Continuity is the special feature of all types of organization.
The communication is a process, but it is never a one-way process. An organization is divided into a number of
sections or departments and the information is always communicated among all the departments. For example,
a department or an officer receives information it is his primary duty to send a reply or information and, in
this way, communication system works. As there is commonness in communication there is also continuity in
it. The communication will end with the death of organization.
The communication is also an act of imparting news/information. Information is always exchanged among the
employees. In this sense, communication is a type of milieu. It is said that the structure of the organization
is generally called a milieu.
It is said that any organization has two types of relation—one is work of functioning of the organization and
the other is personal relationship among the employees. Both these relations are present and active.
The employees give aspect cannot work quite successfully without the personal relation. The experts of
administration have emphasized that the personal relations is sometimes more important than the non-personal
one. The personal relation provides inspiration to the productive process.
The communication is a continuous process which implies that when an information goes from one department
to another, the receiving department cannot sit idly ignoring it. The concerned department must inform its
assessment or reaction to the sender and in this way the information system works continuously. It is a very
important aspect of the system of communication.
Communication plays a very important role in the functioning of the organization. Changes are taking place
continuously in the environment and the impact of these changes simultaneously reacts upon the administration
political system. In other words, the authority responds to any news or action and this response is conveyed
through the machinery of communication system. In the fifties of the last century David Easton introduced
the idea that political system is an open system which means that the environment influences the political system
and, in turn, political system, in one way or other, influences the environment. In this way the political system
works. Needless to say that public administration is a part and parcel of the whole political system. It is,
therefore, quite natural that the influence of environment will fall on public administration and, at the same
time, it will activate the system of communication.
The concept of feedback also works in the system of communication. Feedback means: information given in
response to a product, a person’s performance of a task etc. I have given here the COD meaning of feedback
and this meaning prevails everywhere. The feedback system works in an organization through the network of
communication. In this age of developed technology, internet system makes the communication network very
easy and effective, but this has not eroded the importances of communication. Rather globalization is making
more and more vital part of public administration and organization.

Other Aspects of Communication

Importance
Communication is not simply a part of public administration or an organization; rather, it is a vital part of
organization. The administration of government or any organization is highly complex and the body of
administration is increasing with the progress of time. In order to cope with this situation the public administration
must prepare itself. Normally, the system of communication must be prepared.
The communication has a special role to play in the field of human relations which is the main part of
communication. At this stage we remember a remark of the German poet Goethe. If you treat an individual
as he is, he will stay as he is. But if you treat him as if he were, what he ought to be and he could be he will
become what the ought to be and he could be. It is the communication that makes man what he ought to be.
Through the mechanism of communication man can develop his inner qualities. He becomes more and more
eligible for it.
The input-output system works in the public administration very effectively. In a democratic form of system
people place their demands before the chief executive and he communicates these to the appropriate section
for consideration and necessary action. In the next stage the latter communicates its views to the original place.
The output-input mechanism in this way functions beautifully. Walter Bagehot in his famous work The British
Constitution has beautifully analysed how input-output mechanism works in Britain’s democratic framework.
This is also a clear example of communication system.
We have talked about the communication system of public administration and organization. But it is also a
very important phenomenon of democracy. To be more specific, it is one of the chief pillars of democracy.
If it breaks down, democracy will face severe problems.
Modern age is called the age of globalization. In this age the whole world has become a village and we call
it the world village. The world is becoming smaller and smaller and the system of communication makes it
possible. In the twinkling of an eye a message can be sent from one end of the globe to the other. So this is
our communication mechanism. Few multinational corporations are controlling the economy and industrial
system of almost all the countries and this they do through the mechanism of communication. Few superpowers
are doing through ever-developing communication. Even the remotest corner of the world has come nearer to
the epicenter of world system and, needless to say, that the credit should invariably go to the communication
mechanism.
Previously it was presumed that in liberal political system communication works efficiently and quite freely.
Today even in autocratic political system the importance of communication has not declined at all. Trade,
commerce and industry are the backbones of the economy and without communication these cannot function
not to speak of development. Communication does not possess any political colour. The erstwhile Soviet
Union strictly followed the capitalist system of administration and the organizations of the communist states
followed the main principles of the capitalist mode of administration. Even the existence of Weberi9an
bureaucratic model in former Soviet Union and other communist states does not at all surprise us. The fact
is that the system of communication knows no political colour, recognizes no geographical boundaries. In this
age of internet and computer we are well-versed with the terms such as BPO (Business Process Outsourcing)
and KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing).
Forms of Communication
There are mainly two forms of communication—formal and informal. The formal communication is based on
certain written rules and regulations or centrally determined rules and all these must be strictly observed or
maintained. Any change must be preceded by permission of appropriate authority. The formal communication
is the central feature of governmental administration. Formal communication is also prevalent in an administrative
system characterized by hierarchy. There are various stages in public administration and what the executive of
one section will do and what he cannot do are clearly stated and, normally, he cannot violate their rule. Another
aspect of formal communication the movement of order or direction takes place formally or in writing.
Personal liking or disliking has nothing to do with the formal communication.
Herbert Simon maintained that the public administration of a country can never be fully run by formal
communication alone. There is a good deal of importance of informal communication. An administration
cannot be efficiently managed only by formal communication. It must be supplemented by informal mode of
administration. In a changing world, everything cannot be predicted or foreseen. In order to combat new
problem or situation a quick decision is to be taken which negates the formal rules and procedures. But for the
better and prosperous management informal method requires to be adopted. This temporary arrangement does
not cast any doubt upon the formal aspects of communication. To sum up, for the well-management of both
public administration and organization, both formal and informal communication are necessary.
Purposes of Communication
P.C. Tripathi and D.N. Reddy in their Principles of Management has pointed out the following purposes of
management.
1. In order to increase managerial efficiency communication is necessary.
2. For industrial peace cooperation is required and communication ensures this.
3. Communication helps coordination among various departments of an organization.
4. Communication helps the employees to acquire effective knowledge about various branches and aspects
of organization.
5. Communication is necessary for acquiring knowledge and function of the organization.
6. With the help of communication employees come to be acquainted with the decision-making process.
It is because the decision-making affairs are not the functions of any particular person. All the employees
of the organization are involved in this affair.
7. It helps people to know how the decision-making process works.
8. It makes employees responsible. He comes to know that he has something to do in the working of the
organization. This will encourage him to take interest in the affairs of organization.
9. It sometimes obliterates the gap or difference between upper and lower ranks.

Control
Definition and Nature
Another important administrative process is control. It means the power to influence people’s behaviour or the
course of events. But this definition is not sufficient for acquiring full meaning of control that is used in public
administration or organization. The real meaning of control is to ensure the operation of organization in the
prescribed lines or process. The idea of control arises when it is found that the administration is not properly
managed. Every organization has some specific purposes and the authority sincerely attempts to realize those
objectives. But in actual situation several hurdles appear which impede the attainment of goals. In order to stop
this untoward incident a mechanism is required that will frustrate the undesirable outcome.
In every organization or every department of public administration, it has been found that certain recalcitrant
elements oppose the order or policy of authority. This is due to the difference of opinion or outlook. If the
authority takes no precautionary measure that may inflict injury on the body of management. To stop this
undesirable outcome there is an arrangement to check this outcome and this is called control. Hence control
is a technique to ensure the timely implementation of the objection of the organization and to thwart the progress of
information that may stand on the way of the implementation of policy.
The term control is also used in another sense. Every public administration is hierarchically organized which
implies that there are different stages and every stage has certain specific duties and responsibilities. It is the
duty of control to see that every person performs his function allotted to him by the hierarchy. The absence
of control will invite chaos in the hierarchical structure. But control stops this undesirable outcome.

Purposes of Control
The chief purpose of control is to remove the hindrances that obstruct the purposes of public administration
or organization. The organization is to interact with the environment around it or the situation that arises within
it. All these require that the executive must have sufficient power at its disposal to fight the situation.
The public administration or the organization has some declared objectives and it sometimes realizes that a
glaring discrepancy has arisen between the declared objectives and the actual situation. The chief executive,
will not allow this discrepancy to persist and, on this consideration, he will proceed to exercise his power to
arrest the discrepancy.
In the course of the activities the public administration or the organization may not succeed to realize all the
declared objectives and this failure helts the progress. This uncalled for situation may inspire the head of the
organization to exercise his power to reverse the situation. This is another name of control.
There may arise crisis within the public administration or outside elements or crisis may create negative impact
upon public administration or organization. Both are to be checked in order to free the organization from crisis.
This requires control.
In the process of management an organization may commit mistakes and in order to stop the recurrence of
mistakes the most effective weapon is control. To err is human, but for the betterment of organization it cannot
be overlooked or forgiven. Through the instrumentality of control the authority rectifies the mistake.
It has another purpose. If the members of the management are quite aware that the authority has enough power
to take action against the errant employees that will act as a type of check on the part of employees.

Methods of Control
PPB or PPBS
Public administration or organization both are result-oriented. It is in the sense that they always want to achieve
success or, in other words, benefits of the policy they have adopted. Keeping this in mind they first of all
determine policy and start execution. If there is shortfall in the attachment of policy the officers start to
investigate the cause and apply control mechanism. There are many ways of control and PPB or PPBS is one
such. It means Planning Programming Budgeting System. In the mid-sixties of the last century, in some
organizations of USA, the executives suggested PPBS as a way of controlling and motivating the organization and,
after some time the results of the PPBS impressed the organizers and other impressed at the sight of the results
of PPBS and decided to implement it in the federal system. Since 1965, PPBS has been recognized as a
powerful way of controlling the functions of public administration.
What is PPBS? “It is a system of resources allocation designed to improve government efficiency and
effectiveness by establishing long-range planning goals, analyzing the costs and benefits of alternative programmes
that would meet these goals and articulating programmes as budgetary and legislative proposals and long-term
projections” (Henry, op. cit., p. 219). The PPB is a very effective way of controlling the functions of an
organisation because it decides the functions and objectives well before the commencement of the functions.
After the expiry of the period the authority starts to investigate how much of the aims has been attained.
Even before that, periodical assessment is also done.
The PPB is concerned not only with the inputs and outputs but also with effects and alternatives. The PPB is a
comprehensive method of controlling the various aspects of public administration. The PPB policy may also be called
the cost-benefit technique of controlling public administration. Generally, the cost-benefit policy is applied in
economics but from the mid-sixties of the last century it is being applied in the functioning of organizations.
In almost all the branches of American public administration the PPB was applied and the results were
scanned. It has been claimed that the PPB has produced satisfactory results. It was however not without
criticism and objections.
Allocation of funds is another way of controlling public administration. This means that, at the beginning of
the financial year, every branch of public administration receives certain amount of fund for the realization of
its objectives. At the end of the financial year, every department is constitutionally bound to submit reports
which contains its achievement. The higher authority directs every department to prepare its own budget as
well as the schemes for which the fund is to be spent. This is an effective way of control.
The management by objective is popularly known as MBO. Let us define it after Henry. Management by objectives
may be defined as a process whereby organizational goals and objectives are set through the participation of organizational
members in terms of results expected and resources are allocated according to the degree to which organizational goals and
objectives are met (p. 221).
The PPB is concerned with the inputs, outputs, effects, and alternatives. But, on the contrary, the MBO means
how much objectives has been achieved. The MBO cannot be separated from inputs, outputs, and effects.
PPB thinks about the alternatives but MBO does not think so. In various branches of American public
administration the MBO is widely used. The experts of public administration are of opinion that both PPB
and MBO are the two powerful weapons of controlling various aspects of organization and public administration.
Assessing the importance of MBO, some researchers have made the following comment: “MBO has been a
fundamental part of the movement to strengthen management capacity in the public sector” (Quoted by
Henry, p. 222).
Another way of controlling the public administration is to decide the objectives and suggest the ways of how
to achieve them. Next stage is both the objectives and ways shall be circulated among all the branches of
organization. If this is done properly, at the end of the period or financial year it would be quite easy to assess
what has been achieved and what remains unachieved.
There is another way of control and it is called assessment of performance. It is, no doubt, an effective way. In many
organization duties or functions are clearly stated and it is also stated how much work an individual employee
will have to do. The authority at the end of the period starts assessment and if there is wide difference between
what is to be done and what has been done, the executive in charge of this task can take action against the
concerned employee.
Still the other way of control and it is called Target-base Budgeting or TBB. It means that many organizations
are asked to fix their targets or objectives or the authority fixes the target and, after this, resources are allocated
for the fulfillment of targets. At the end of the period a thorough appraisal is done. The TBB method of control
is popular in many departments of American administrative system. But Nicholas Henry thinks it in a different
way. He says TBB is driven by revenues and in this respect TBB is an unusually realistic budget system
(p. 227).
Means of Control
The government organization or public administration is controlled in a variety of ways and some of them are
stated below. Within the organization there exists a self-regulatory mechanism which may be called checks and
balances. Even within an organization there are several departments which are organized in such a way that
very often one department is set against another and as such no department can act independently. This may
be called checks and balances and is a characteristic feature of the American constitutional system.
The electronic and printing media keep a constant vigilance over the activities of the governmental departments
and agencies. Any violation of general principle or jeopardy in public interest draw the attention of the media
and public criticism forces the authority of public administration or organization to take action or adopt
precautionary measures. This is quite common in any democracy.
In all liberal democracies there are numerous interest groups and pressure groups. One of the important functions
is to see and safeguard the interests of public who owe allegiance to them. Particularly in the USA and UK,
there exist large number of such groups and their alertness prevents the authority from taking any action that
might damage the interest of any group.
The control of the legislature is also very effective. In parliamentary democracy the ministry is accountable to
the legislature and the legislature, in turn, is responsible to the electorate. This chain of accountability ensures
that neither the executive (bureaucracy is a part of it) nor the legislature can go against the public interests.
The periodical elections have forced the legislature not to do anything that may create dissatisfaction in the
minds of the electorate and damage the prospect of winning in the coming election. This situation compels
the legislature to tighten the belt of control over the public administration. This is a common feature to be
found in parliamentary systems.
There is also a control of the judiciary which is very effective and widespread. In many countries, constitutions
guarantee fundamental rights and any shrinkage or violation of these rights may attract necessary action which
might be punishment. This power of judiciary is a clear and inevitable control over the general administration
of state. Even the non-governmental organizations are not free from judicial control. Particularly the American
system of administration, the judicial control over the entire political system is very effective. The control of
the judiciary of USA reminds us of the famous phrase due process of law. It means that any act of authority
which violates the normal function of any institution may also be challenged in the court of law.
The constitutional structure is so framed that the government’s administrative departments cannot spend public
money in their own whimsical way. There is an audit department and the money spent by public administration
must be audited. For every financial year, budget is approved by the legislature and no department has freedom
to spend money in accordance with its own sweet will. Even the local governments and other bodies have no
freedom to go beyond the budgeting estimates.
Accountability, I think is the most powerful weapon to control the public administration. It is so pervasive that
every department—in one way or other—is accountable to somebody. The alertness of citizens and many other
bodies keep a vigilant eye on the functioning of the government.

Leadership
Meaning and Nature
In every field of social, political, and other areas there is an immense importance of leadership. Naturally,
leadership is also a very important part of the administrative process. Henry says: “Leadership is a big subject,
and perhaps no aspect of organizational behaviour has had more written about it than leadership (p. 130).
Leadership may also be defined as capacity to influence others or to make other persons to do a work or to
follow something according to certain principles or to do a work in accordance with rules framed by the
authority.
Henry thinks that there is a difference between leader or leadership and administrator. According to Henry,
“Administrators performed the mundane but necessary chores of a bureaucratic and technical nature that the
organization running on a day-to-day basis” (p. 130). An administrator helps the day-to-day management of
public administration but coalesces the various elements of an organization. A leader is not confined within
the everyday functioning. An administrator is well-versed in the administrative processes and rules. But a leader
is a man of great personality and positional authority. His duty is to supervise the functions and management
of the whole body of organization.
A threadbare analysis of leadership reveals the following aspects of the nature of this concept. According to
Nicholas Henry, leadership is a very important aspect of quality with the help of which a person provides all-
round development stimulus to an organization. It implies that everybody cannot be leader though many can
become administrator or efficient officer. In other words—leadership is an inborn quality. There may be an
exaggeration in this assessment, but it is a fact leadership is not a common quality. An organization generally
works within the framework of certain rules. But leadership is never confined within the boundary of these
rules. Sometimes it works beyond the specific rules.
There is a wide gap between an administrator and person who provides bold and effective leadership. Leadership
means a type of creativity but administrator does not or may not have this particular quality. He will have the
capability to manage an organization in the best possible way.
Leadership will have another quality which an administrator may not possess. In the field of management, an
organization may face problems or may be in great crises. An administrator may not be in a position to solve
it. Only a bold leadership can show the path to solution and soon the organization may be on a solid foundation
and it will resume normal work.
It has been claimed that there must be sufficient transparency and coherence in the work of leadership.
This quality will posit a leader above all sorts of squabbles and criticisms. The leader must be above all types
of orthodox behaviour and attitude. This is essential on the ground that narrow-mindedness deters the forward
movement of the organization.

Functions of Leadership
Let us focus our attention to the functions of leadership. It is believed (and of course wrongly) that leadership
is a different concept and not associated with the day-to-day management of the organization. But Henry says:
“increasingly it is becoming recognized that leadership and administration are of equal importance to the
success of organizations…Leadership is seen as dealing with change whereas administration is viewed as coping with
complexity” (p. 131).
The above observation of Henry makes it clear that the leadership has a very crucial role to play in the
organization. For the betterment or further improvement of the organization the leadership introduces new
changes and it is the duty of the administrator to implement those changes. Hence we find that both leadership
and administration are part and parcel of an organization. The farsightedness and imagination of leadership
provide a vision for the organization and this requires to be executed—which is done by the administration.
It is the primary duty of the leadership to fix the objectives of the organization and this requires imagination,
through knowledge of related issues and, above all, farsightedness. In today’s world situation the function of
an organization are not confined within the narrow geographical boundary. The events of the outside world in
various ways influence the functions of an organization and it is the duty of the leadership to show the way
to the organization. It is believed that a bold and proper leadership can provide such a way.
A researcher gives a new definition of leadership: Leadership is an important relationship among leaders and
followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual proposes. This definition of leadership contains the
hints of certain important functions. A leader influences the management in non-coercive ways. In other words,
a leader never imposes his decision in a coercive manner. There is a cordial relationship between the leader and
other employees and the proposals of the leader is cordially received by the executives or other employees.
The mutual relationship is a factor for the furtherance of the organization.
Leadership has another crucial role to play. The prevalence of cordial relation among all sections of employees
is a strong precondition of the development of the organization and the maintenance of this relation falls upon
the leadership. The overall supervision of the organization falls on the soulder of the leader and he sees that
this is maintained in the proper way.
The rise and growth of an organization is a time and energy consuming affair and the leadership will have to
perform it with all earnestness. This is regarded as a very important quality or qualification of a leader. A study
of the histories of various organizations there is a special role (Which is also negative) of leadership.
Globalization and liberalization have considerably influenced the role and function of the leadership. A leader
must be well-versed with the latest picture of the organizational world. The leader will take bold steps for the
overhauling of the organization so that it can efficiently cope with the change and provide strong fillip for the
advancement of the organization in the modern world.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Foundation 2020
– Ashutosh Pandey

PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 6

CPA and Public Policy

 COMPARATIVEPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION.

Evolution of Comparative Studies of Administration

I
A sustain�d effort. to undertake comparative analysis in public administration was not
begun until after the end of World War II but the industry and enthusiasm of its devotees have
resulted in frequent references to the comparative public administration '�movement," both by
those who are impressed by what has been accomplished and those who are skeptical of what
they consider pretentious claims. Despite the short span of time, several attempts have already
been made to review and analyze the evolution of comparative administrative studies. The timing
and vigor of this movement are viewed as resulting from a combination of factors: the rather
obvious need for this extension of range in public administration as a discipline; the exposur-e of
large numbers of scholars and practitioners of administration to experience with administration
abroad during wartime, postwar occupation, and subsequent technical assistance assignments;
the stimulation of the largely contemporary revisionist movement in comparative politics which
has already been summarized; and the rather remarkable· expansion of opportunities for those
interested in devoting themselves to research at home or field experience abroad on problems of
comparative administration.

A growing number of colleges and universities offer courses in comparative public

administration and some of them have made it a field of specialization for graduate study.
Professionai associations have extended recognition, first through the appointment in 1953 of an
ad hoc committee on comparative administration by the American Political Science Association,
and more recently by the establishment and vigorous growth of the Comparative Administration
i
Group which is affiliated with the American Society for Public Administration. The latter group
has received generous support from the Ford Foundation and has been engaged in a
comprehensive program of research seminars, experimental t:each�ng projects, discussions at
professional meetings, special conferences, and exploration of other ways of strengthening
/
available resources, such as through the expansion of facilities for field research.

. . The most tangible product of these endeavors is an output of published writings on

comparative public administration whi�h has already reached voluminous proportions.
Classification of this literature is best done by subject matter or focus of emphasis rather than
chronological order_, since it has appeared in a variety of forms more or less simultaneously. A
scheme of classification. that is an adaptation used earlier divides the literature as follows: ( 1)
modified traditional. (2) development oriented, (3) general system model-building, and (4)
middle-range theory formulation.

The modified tra<iitional category shows the greatest continuity with earlier more
parochially oriented administrative literature. The subject matter is not markedly different as the
focus shifts from individual administrative systems to comparisons among them although there
may be.a serious effort to utilize rriore advanced research tools and to incorporate findings from a

[l]
variety of social-science disciplines. This literature may be further subdivided into studies made
from a comparative perspective of standard administrative subtopics, and those which undertake
comparisons of entire systems of administration. Topics in the first subdivision include
administrative organization, personnel management, fiscal administration, headquarters-field
relations, administration of public enterprises, regulatory administration, administrative
responsibility and control, and program fields such as health, education, welfare, and agriculture.

The second category includes a number of studies that are basically descriptive
institutional comparisons of administration in Western developed countries, with special
emphasis on administrative organization and civil service systems. "Also worthy of mention here
is an outline for comparative field research formulated by Wallace S. Sayre and Herbert
Kaufman for the conference on comparative administration held at Princeton in 1952, and later
revised by a working group of the American Political Science Association subcommittee on
comparative public administration. This research design suggested a three-point model for
comparison, focusing on the organization of the administrative system, the control of the
administrative system, and the securing of consent and compliance by the administrative
hierarchy.

Advocates of a focus on "development administration" seek to concentrate attention on

the administrative requisites for achieving public policy goals; particularly in countries where
these goals involve dramatic political, economic and social transformations. "Development,"
says Weidner, "is a state of mind, a tendency, a direction. Rather than a fixed goal it is a rate of
change in a particular direction... The study of development administration can help to identify
the conditions under which a maximum rate of development is sought and the conditions under
which it has been obtained." He contends that existing models for comparison are limited in their
usefulness because "they make inadequate provision for social change; characterize modem
bureaucracy in very inaccurate ways; are unduly comprehensive, all-inclusive and abstract; and
fail to _take account of the differences in administration that may be related to the goals that are
being sought." Hence, he urges the adoption of development administration as a separate focus
for research, with the end-object being "to relate different administrative roles, practices,
organizational arrangements, and procedures to the maximizing of development objectives .... In
research terms, the ultimate dependent variable would be the development goals themselves."
Although work with a development administration emphasis need not be normative in the sense
of a choice among development goals by the researcher, much of it does have a prescriptive
coloration.

Dwight Waldo, among others, is intrigued by this approach and argues that a
concentration on the theme of development "may help to bring into useful association various
clusters of ideas and types of activity that are now more or less separate and help clarify some
methodological problems ...." Even though he admits that he finds it impossible to define
development, as used in this connection, which precision. The term does raise serious questions
about what is meant and what is included and excluded, but it has the virtue of consciously

[2]
relating administrative means to administrative ends, and of deliberately spotlighting the
problems of administrative adjustment faced by emerging countries seeking to achieve
developmental goals. As Swerdlow remarks, " ... poor countries have special characteristics that
tend to create a different role for government. These characteristics and this expanded or
emphasized role of government, particularly as it affects economic growth, tend to make the
operations of the public administration can be usefully called development administration."

The remaining two groups are in a sense more typical of the dominant mood among
students of comparative public administration, and indeed of comparative politics as well. In
contrast to the first two categories, the emphasis here is much more self-consciously on the
construction of typologies or models for comparative purposes, and there is a strong concern to
keep these value-free or value-neutral. The word "model" is used here, as by Waldo, to mean
"simply the conscious attempt to develop and define concepts, or clusters of related concepts
useful in classifying data, describing reality and (or) hypothesizing about it." Interdisciplinary
borrowing is extensive, primarily from sociology, but to a considerable extent also from
economics, psychology, and other fields. This emphasis on theory and methodology has been
repeatedly noted, often praised as indicative of sound preparation for future progress, as well as
frequently disparaged as a preoccupation diverting energies that might better have been devoted
to the conduct of actual field studies of administrative systems in operation. Any attempt to
classify this plethora of models must be somewhat arbitrary, but the most useful distinction
seems to have been made by Presthus, who distinguishes between theorists attempting broad,
crosscultural, all-encompassing formulations and those advancing more modest and restricted "
middle range" theories. Diamant likewise discerns "general system" models and "political
culture" models among contributions in comparative politics.

Among those who have preferred the general system approach to comparative public
administration, fred W. Riggs is clearly the dominant figure. "mere acquaintance with all of his
writings on comparative theory is in itself not an insignificant accomplishment." Drawing
essentially upon concepts of structural-functional analysis developed by sociologists such as
Talcott Parsons, Marion Levy, and F. X. Sutton, Riggs, in a series of published and unpublished
writings, over a period of years has formulated and reformulated a cluster of models or "ideal
types" for societies, designed to contribute to a better understanding of actual societies,
particularly those undergoing rapid social, economic, political, and administrative ehange.

Another prominent source of comprehensive model-building is equilibrium theory, which

postulates a system with inputs and outputs as a basis for analysis. John T. Dorsey has outlined
an approach to theory of this type in his "information-energy model" which he believes may be
useful in the analysis of social and political systems in general as well as for a better
understanding of administrative systems. Dorsey has undertaken to use this scheme in an
analysis of political development in Vietnam.
 As Waldo has observed, the central problem of model construction in the study of
comparative public administration is "no select a model that is 'large' enough to embrace all the
phenomena that should be embraced without being, by virtue of its large dimensions too coarse
textured and clumsy to grasp and manipulate administration." The alleged gap between such
"large" models and the empirical data to be examined has led to Robert Presthus and others
stressing the need for middle-range theory rather than theory of "cosmic dimension,' to use his
phrase. His advice to social scientists working in comparative administration is to "bite off
smaller chunks of reality and ... research these intensively." Similar expressions of preference
for middle-range theories have been made in the field of comparative politics.

By far the most prominent and promising middle-range model available for comparative
studies in administration is the "bureauctic" one, based upon the ideal-type model of
bureaucracy as formulated by Max Weber but with substantial subsequent modification,
alteration, and revision. Waldo finds the bureaucratic model useful, stimulating, and provocative,
its advantage and appeal being that this model "is set in a large framework that spans history and
cultures and relates bureaucracy to important societal variables, yet it focuses attention upon the
chief structural and functional characteristics of bureaucracy." He correctly points out that not
much empirical research has actually been done using the bureaucratic model. However, this is a
deficiency applying to other models as well, and there is at least a base of such studies upon
which to build, with others on the way. The most notable such research, despite substantial flaws
in execution, is Morroe Berger's Bureaucracy and Society Modem Egypt, but here are a number
of other partial treatments of bureaucracy in particular countries, either in separate essays or as
parts of analyses of individual political systems. The entire subject of the role of bureaucracy in
political development has been explored in depth in papers prepared for a conference sponsored
in 1962 by the Committee on Comparative Politics of the Social Science Research Council and
later published in a volume edited by Joseph LaPalombara.

This review of the literature of comparative public administration does not tell us much
about trends. Riggs, in an essay published in 1962, discerned three trends which seem to have
been generally accepted as important and relevant. The first of these is a shift from normative
toward more empirical approaches-a movement away from efforts to prescribe ideal or better
patterns of administration toward "a growing interest in descriptive and analytic information for
its own sake." This consideration has been mentioned in describing recent developments, but it
should be noted that the currently popular development-administration theme often has a strong
prescriptive motivation. The second trend is the movement from what Riggs calls ideographic
toward nomothetic approaches. Essentially this is a distinction between studies "which
concentrate on the unique case" and those seeking "generalizations, 'laws,' hypotheses that
assert regularities of behavior, correlations between variables .... " Model-building, particularly of
the general system type, shows this nomothetic inclination. The third trend is a shift from a
predominantly nonecological to an ecological basis for comparative study. Riggs describes the
first trend as being fairly clear by now, but considers the other tow as "perhaps only just

[4]
emerging." Obviously, he approves of these trends and has tried to encourage them. Indeed, he
expresses as his personal opinion the idea that the term "comparative" should be "restricted,
strictly speaking, for empirical, nomothetic studies," which would give appropriate recognition
to environmental factors.

It should be clear by now that any undertaking to compare systems of public

administration in existing nation-states requires a choice among numbrous and partially
conflicting alternatives.

[5]
Concepts of Bureaucracy

The term bureaucracy has often been attacked as contrived, ambiguous, and troublesome. All of
these charges are accurate. Nevertheless, bureaucracy is a word that has demonstrated great
staying power Even most of its critics have concluded that there is more to be gained by keeping
it (provided it is given the meaning they prefer) than by abandoning it. And that is essentially the
position taken here.The origins of the word are not entirely clear. Morstein Marx gives it a
French pedigree, identifies a Latin ancestor of long ago, calls it a hideous example of teaming
French with Greek, and counts it as among the notorious words of our age.2 He points out that it
was first used in the French form bureaucratie by a French minister of commerce in the
eighteenth century to refer to the government in operation, spread to Geermany during the
nineteenth century as Burokratie and has since found its way into English and many other
languages. As a subject for scholarly inquiry, the term is primarily associated with the German
social scientist Max Weber (1864-1920), whose writings on bureaucracy have stimulated a flood
of commentary and further research.

The origins of the word are not entirely clear. Morstein Marx gives it a French pedigree,
identifies a Latin ancestor of long ago, calls it a hideous example of teaming French with Greek,
and counts it as among the notorious words of our age. He points out that it was first used in the
French form bureaucratie by a French minister of commerce in the eighteenth century to refer to
the government in operation, spread to Geermany during the nineteenth century as Burokrati and
has since found its way into English and many other languages. As a subject for scholarly
inquiry, the term is primarily associated with the German social scientist Max Weber (1864-
1920), whose writings on bureaucracy have stimulated a flood of commentary and further
research.

What is probably the most common usage of bureaucracy may distract us, but it but it
need not detain us. In popular language, bureaucracy is most often employed as a "political
cussword," and is cast in the role of villain by opponents of "big government" or "the welfare
state." Sometimes this meaning appears in academic writings as well, two often quoted examples
being Harold Laski's definition in the 1930 edition of the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences,
and the treatment by Von Mises in his book Bureaucracy.

Most social scientists define bureaucracy in way intended to identify a phenomenon

associated with large-scale complex organizations, without any connotation of approval or
disapproval. A usage that is value neutral, it identifies bureaucracy as neither hero nor villain, but
as a form of social organization with certain characteristics.

The confusion in bureaucratic theory comes. from differences in approach in describing

these characteristics, and failure to distinguish among these approaches. The ambiguity can be
traced to Weber's own formulations, and despite a high degree of agreement and consistency
concerning some essential earmarks of bureaucracy, it continues down to the present.

[6]
 The dominant tendency is to define bureaucracy in terms of an organization's basic
structural characteristics. The most compact formulation is that of Victor Thompson. Who
characterizes bureaucratic organizations as composed of a highly elaborated hierarchy of
authority superimposed upon a highly elaborated division of labor. From Weber on, most writers
on bureaucracy have enumerated the structural dimensions of bureaucracy, with minor variations
in their formulations, both in cont3ent and breakdown of items, but with substantial agreement
among them.

A second tendency has been to define bureaucracy in terms of behavioral characteristics,

or to add these to the structural characteristics, the result being that a pattern of behavior or
related patterns of behavior are presumed to be bureaucratic. Opinion varies considerably on
what kind of behavior deserves to be so labeled. Friedrich stresses traits such as objectivity,
discretion, precision, and consistency, and describes them as "clearly and closely related to the
measure-taking function of administrative officials." These are behavioral traits positively
associated with attainment of the objectives of bureaucratic organizations. Merton and many
other authors have emphasized the pathological or "dysfunctional" tendencies in the behavior of
bureaucrats, which frustrate the realization of the goals toward which the bureaucracy is
supposed to be working. These include "buck-passing," "red tape," unwillingness to delegate
authority, extreme secretiveness, and a thirst for power. This continues to be a common
orientation. Michel Crozier describes his valuable recent study he Buraucratic Phenomenon as a
scientific attempt to understand better "this malady of bureaucracy." He explains that the subject
to which he refers in speaking of the bureaucratic phenomenon "is that of the maladaptations, the
inadequacies, or, to use Merton's expression, the 'dysfunctions,' which necessarily develop
within human organizations."

Either of these paths toward defining bureaucracy in terms of behavior leads to

distinctions between patterns of behavior that are "more" or "less" bureaucratic, with the
meaning of such descriptions being uncertain unless the kind of behavior that has been labeled
"bureaucratic" is clearly understood. This approach may also result in identifying the "process of
bureaucratization" with a pronounced inclination toward a patterned combination of behavioral
traits, usually pathological, such as Eisenstadt's use of the word bureaucratization to mean "the
extension of the power of a bureaucratic organization over many areas beyond its initial purpose,
the growing internal formalization within the bureaucracy, the regimentation of these areas by
the bureaucracy, and in general a strong emphasis by the bureaucracy on the extension of its
power."

A third approach has been suggested by Peter Blau, who defines bureaucracy in terms of
achievement of purpose, as "organization that maximizes efficiency in administration or an
institutionalized method of organized social conduct in the interests of administrative
efficiency." This would seem to make both structural and behavioral characteristics of
bureaucracy somewhat variable, since the test for whether or not an organization is a

[7]
bureaucracy is whether it is achieving its purpose; and the elements of structure and behavior
that this requires may shift from time to time and from place to place.

Of course, all of these considerations are important, and the selection of any one of these
aspects as critical to the definition of bureaucracy is quite justifiable. It is crucial to clarity pof
understanding, however, to make an explicit choice. My choice of the most useful way to view
bureaucracy is as an institution defined in terms of basic structural characteristics. Bureaucracy is
a form of organization. Organizations either are bureaucracies or they are not, depending on
whether or not they have these characteristics. Regarding bureaucracy as characteristic of the
structure of a organization does not mean that all bureaucracies are identical as far as structure is
concerned. Some promising efforts have been made to conceptualize elements that can be
considered dimensions of organizational structure, the objective being to rate organizations on a
continuum for each of the dimensions jointly forming a profile of its structure. This structural
profile can then be used, it is hoped, to characterize the organization for purposes of comparison.

A principal advantage of selecting a structural focus in defining bureaucracy, rather than

incorporating a behavioral component as well, is that it allows us to consider all patterns of
behavior that are actually found in bureaucracies as equally deserving to be called bureaucratic
behavior. One pattern of behavior is not singled out as somehow entitled to be labeled
bureaucratic, leaving other behavior patterns, also found in existing bureaucracies, to be
described as nonbureaucratic or less bureaucratic. This practice has been the source of much
confusion that can be eliminated.

The approach suggested does not ignore or de-emphasize differences in behavioral

tendencies in bureaucracies. On the contrary, it facilitates the identification and classification of
these patterns, which are extremely significant and should be primary objects for analysis and
comparison. Behavioral traits, more than structural elements, are what distinguish one
bureaucracy from another, or more accurately, one type of bureaucracy from another. These
patterns can be expected to vary from bureaucracy, but other than that we know very little about
this highly complicated subject. As Friedrich has pointed out, the problems presented by the
behavioral aspects of bureaucracy are considerably more complex than those associated with the
structural aspects. He observes that " .... Although a certain similarity is observable, the behavior
of bureaucrats varies widely in time and place without there being any clear-cut pattern of
development. Nor is this fact to be wondered at. The behavior. of all persons in a particular
cultural context is bound to be moulded by the values and beliefs prevalent in that culture. Thus
the Chinese official, motivated by the doctrine f Confucius and his followers, will be much more
concerned with good manners than the Swiss official, while the latter, motivated by the teachings
of Christianity and more especially (typically) by a Protestant and Pietist version of Christian
beliefs, will be more concerned with honesty and duty." A theory of bureaucracy and techniques
of comparative study which will facilitate exploration of these problems, is an objective 'of the
highest priority. A structural characterization of what constitutes bureaucracy will not in itself

[8]
accomplish much along this line, but it should at least clear away part of the debris so as to make
progress somewhat easier.

The Prevalence of Public Bureaucracy

What are the generally accepted organizational features common to all bureaucracies? Do
bureaucracies with these essential features exist in all or nearly all of the political systems of the
world, so that they afford an actual basis for comparison of public administration across national
boundaries? If bureaucracies are uniformly found to be in operation in modem polities, what
points about their structure and behavior should be selected as most productive for purposes of
comparative study?

There are almost as many formulations of the essential characteristics of bureaucracy as

there are writers on the subject (and they have been plentiful). Nevertheless, as has already been
mentioned, the area of agreement on the structural or organizational features that are central is
substantial. The variations come mostly in the way the structural aspects are expr_essed and in the
divergence that comes when behavioral traits are added.

The pivotal structural characteristics can be reduced to three: (1) hierarchy, (2)
differentiation or specialization, and (3) qualification or competence. Hierarchy is probably the
most important because it is so closely associated with the effort to apply rationality to
administrative tasks. Max Weber viewed this effort as explaining the origin of the bureaucratic
form of organization. He refers to hierarchy as involving principles and levels of graded
authority that ensure in firmly ordered system of super ordination and subordination in which
higher offices supervise lower ones. Such a formal scheme of interlocking superior-subordinate
relationships is intended to provide direction, cohesion, and continuity. Specialization in
organization is a result of division f labor, which in turn is a requirement for accomplishment in
cooperative human endeavor to master the environment and reach complex goals. Specialized
allocation of tasks means differentiation within the organization of what sociologists refer to as
roles. The structure of organization must provide for a functional relationship of these roles.
Qualification "refers to these functions or roles and requires that the person playing a certain role
must be qualified for it typically in highly developed bureaucracies by adequate preparation and
education." Such intensive preparation might justify referring to professionalism in connection
with this aspect, but competence and qualification are preferable because these terms. hint at
fitting the official to the role as it is conceived in the particular context. Competence might or
might not require what would be considered professionalized training in a highly specialized
society.·

Other features of a structural sort are also frequently mentioned, but these are somewhat
more peripheral, or are closely related to those already mentioned, such as a body of rules
governing the behavior of members, a system of records, a system of procedures for dealing with
work situations, and size sufficient at least to assure a network of secondary group relationships.

[9]
 It should be noted that this treatment of bureaucracy differs substantially from Weber's
formulation of an "ideal-type" or a "fully developed" bureaucracy. His "ideal-type" was not
intended to represent reality but was an abstraction that exaggerated certain features, a "mental
construct" which, in his words, "cannot be found empirically in reality," whereas this
formulation is intended to identify actual organizations as bureaucracies if they have these
characteristics. Also, his formulation combined organizational with behavioral aspects, whereas
this one confines the definition of bureaucracy to a minimal number of key structural
characteristics.

There seems to be little doubt that a viable polity in the world of today must have a public
service that meets the criteria for a bureaucracy. The necessities of governmental operation
require large-scale organization of a bureaucratic type, with a definite internal hierarchical
arrangement, well-developed functional specialization, and qualification standards for
membership in the bureaucracy. This does not mean that uniformity, even of these structural
features, should be assumed; and it certainly assumes variations in operating characteristics
among public bureaucracies in different political settings. Bureaucratic adaptation and
innovation should be anticipated in the newer nations in particular.

In order to compare the public bureaucracies of the entire range of existing political
entities, on what parts of these bureaucracies and on what aspects of bureaucratic activity should
we concentrate to make the attempt manageable and to take into account realistically the
available stock of reliable information?

To begin, let us use what LaPalombara calls "an accordion-like conceptualization of the
bureaucracy"; and the bureaucrats of major interest to us will generally be "those who occupy
managerial roles, who are in some directive capacity either in central agencies or in the field,
who are generally described in the language of public administration as 'middle' or 'top'
management." This is the higher civil service as the term is used by Morstein Marx to mean "the
relatively 'permanent' top group composed of those who share, in different degrees, in the task
of group composed of those who share, in different degrees, in the task of directing the various
agencies," including "administrative," "professional," and "industrial" categories, "staff' as well
as "line" personnel, and "field service" as well as "headquarters" officials.• In relation to the
total number of people in the public service, this will be a small proportion, probably not more
than 1 or 2 per cent. This more restricted concept of the bureaucracy is most relevant when the
concern is bureaucratic participation in the formation of public policy.

For the most part, we will concentrate on the civil, rather than the military, bureaucracy.
This is the usual convention in public administration literature, although admittedly it is one
subject to disapproval. Objections are most relevant to those countries where the military has not
consistently in the past conformed, or does not now conform, to a role of subordination to
civilian political leadership, such as in many Latin American countries since independence, in
many of the newly independent countries during recent years and sporadically elsewhere. In

(1 O]
circumstances where the higher military leadership has collaborated with or dominated the civil
bureaucracy in making major public policy decisions, as has been the case in Egypt and Pakistan
during recent years, this participation in political rule will be of direct interest.

This perspective for a comparative survey of public administration, focusing on the

institution of bureaucracy as it adapts to environmental conditions (particularly to the degree of
social and economic development and to the configuration of the political system) does not claim
to be the only one, or even the best of possible perspectives. It has been picked because it is
relatively manageable, because it can rely upon a fairly adequate accumulation of basic data, and
because it offers the promise of leading to future comparative research that will be both more
exact and more comprehensive.

In a summary treatment of a highly complicated matter, and subject to the limitations of

available information resources, we will seek to compare the higher civil bureaucracies in a
variety of existing political systems, taking the following questions as the most relevant ones for
our purposes.

I. What are the dominant internal operating characteristics of the bureaucracy reflecting
its composition, hierarchical arrangements, pattern of specialization, and behavioral tendencies?

2. To what extent is the bureaucracy multifunctional, participating in the making of major

public policy decisions as well as in their execution?

3. What are the principal means for exerting control over the bureaucracy from sources
outside it, and how effective are those external controls?

As these questions indicate, our interest is not confined to a comparison of structural

variations, but extends to an exploration of differences in behavioral patterns among
bureaucracies.

Before trying to answer these questions in particular polities or types of political systems,
let us consider two general background factors that can be expected to influence markedly the
characteristics of bureaucratic systems. One is a relatively immediate and easily discernible
factor the over-all formal organizational pattern for the system of public administration in which
the bureaucracy operates. The other, less tangible and more complex, but of much greater
significance, is the political, economic, and social environment in which the bureaucracy
functions, often referred to as the "ecology of administration." At a minimum, we must identify
those environmental features that have the greatest impact in shaping and reshaping the
bureaucracy.

Organizational Patterns for Administration

A necessary consequence of hierarchy and specialization in large scale organization is an

orderly arrangement of units into successively larger and more inclusive groupings. This process

[11]
of departmentalization has occurred in a remarkably uniform way in countries that vary greatly
in their political orientation and in other aspects of their administrative systems. The basic unit is
the department or ministry, with each one representing a major organizational subdivision of
administration. Chapman identifies five "primordial fields of government" -foreign affairs,
justice, finance, defense and war, and internal affairs-represented in Europe's past by primary
ministries with origins dating back t the Roman system of administration. With the growth of
governmental responsibilities and services, new ministries emerged from what had been the
residual category of internal affairs, adding new ministries in such fields as education,
agriculture, transport, trade, and more recently, social security and health. The contours of the
sphere of governmental activities in each country will certainly affect the number and missions
of the central ministries, but the impression one gets from reviewing rosters of ministries in
many countries is one of uniformity or close similarity rather than of wide variation.

Central government ministries normally range from around 12 to about 30, depending on
the degree to which the country concerned prefers specialized or composite units. Chapman
reports that Switzerland has a low of only seven central government ministries. A more usual
figure is around 12, found in countries as separated in size and location as the United States, Iran,
Portugal, Israel, Thailand, Mexico, and the Philippines. Great Britain and the U.S.S.R. are among
the countries having a higher number and more short-range :fluctuation.

Other organizational features are likely to have greater impact on the bureaucracy than
the lineup of core ministries or departments. In most countries, an outcropping of administrative
agencies has developed that does not fit within the ministerial system. These may be units that
_have split off from parent ministries and are on their way to becoming full-fledged ministries but
have not yet arrived. They may be agencies, such as the independent regulatory commissions in
the United States, that have deliberately been given an autonomous status because of the nature
of the controls they wield over private interests. The most common form of incremental
organization in recent decades is the government corporation, which has been popular in many
countries displaying wide differences in the role of government in the economy. The corporate
form has had a special appeal in the newer nations struggling toward industrialization under
governmental auspices. The autonomy often accorded to these public corporations in staffing and
related matters may have profound effects not only on that part of the bureaucracy in the
corporations but on the remainder of the public service as well.

Variations in the way in which the core ministries and other units of organization are tied
to the organs of political leadership are also significant. These include such differences as those
between the presidential and parliamentary systems for organizing executive-legislative
relationships; single-party, two-party, and multiparty patterns in political party systems; and
various procedures for providing interest group representation in the conduct of administration.
All of these choices concerning the structure of government machinery and the conduct of
government business have direct and traceable effects on the bureaucracy.

[12]
The Ecology of Administration

When Riggs and others speak of an ecological approach to the comparative study of
administration, they are recommending that a systematic effort be made to relate public
administration to its environment, in much the same way that the science of ecology is concerned
with the mutual relations between organisms and their environment. Of course, social institutions
are not living organisms, so the parallel is at most suggestive. The point is that bureaucracies, as
well as other political and administrative institutions, can be better understood if the surrounding
conditions, influences, and forces that shape and modify them are identified and ranked to the
extent possible in the order of relative importance.

The environment of bureaucracy may be visualized as a series of concentric circles, with

bureaucracy at the center. The smallest circle generally has the most decisive influence, and the
larger circles represent a descending order of importance as far as bureaucracy is concerned. We
may visualize the largest circle as representing all of society or the general social system. The
next circle represents the economic system or the economic aspects of the social system. The
inner circle is the political system; it encloses the administrative subsystem and the bureaucracy
as one of its elements.

Without undertaking any full exploration of the ecology of public administration, we can
try to pick out the environmental factors impinging on bureaucracy that would seem to be most
helpful in answering the question posed earlier regarding bureaucracies. Comparative analysis
makes a preliminary classification of the nation-states in which these bureaucracies function,
based on the environmental factors that are deemed to be most decisive.

The basic categories employed here are not original; they are already widely known and
used. The first classification is "developed" and "developing" societies, referring to clusters of
characteristics, primarily of a social and economic nature, that are identified with development as
contrasted to underdevelopment or partial development. This is a classification based on the
outer environmental circles with consequences for the bureaucracy that may be considered
secondary. • The second classification is one of political systems using types that have been
suggested by students of comparative politics for both the developed and the developing
countries. These political system differences are assumed to encompass environmental factors
that have the most direct and consequential effects ob bureaucracies.

"Development" as a criterion for classification admittedly has many drawbacks. The

meaning of development often is not precisely defined, and the very term itself has invidious
implication. Milton Esman captures the essential theme when he says: "development denotes a
major societal transformation, a change in system states, along the continuum from peasant and
pastoral to industrial organization. The assimilation and institutionalization of modem physical
and social technology are critical ingredients. These qualitative changes affect values, behavior,
social structure, economic organization and political process." In terms employed by sociologists

[13]-
such as Talcott Parsons who use a structural-functional approach to study social systems, the
more traditional, less developed societies would tend to be predominantly ascriptive,
particularistic, and diffuse. In other words, they would confer status based on birth or inherited
station rather than personal achievement; they would favor a narrow base rather than more
generalized bases for making social decisions; and given social structures would be likely to
perform a large number of functions rather than a few. More developed modern societies, on the
hand, would tend to be achievement oriented, universalistic, and specific.

The word "developing," referring to the countries that are under -going this process of
social transformation, seems preferable to such alternative adjectives as "backward," "poor,"
"undeveloped," "underdeveloped," "less developed," "emerging," "transitional," and even
"expectant." This profusion of terms has led to the facetious comment that the terminology
develops faster than do the developing countries. We shall consider "developing," "emerging,"
and "transitional" as acceptable and more or less interchangeable.

The concept of development does not purport to sort societies into classes of opposites,
but only to locate them along a continuum. Our interest is to compare countries that are
commonly placed toward the upper end of a scale of development with some of those rated as
less developed. The group of countries genereally conceded to be highly or fully developed is
quite small compared to the total number of existing nation states, and these countries are
geographically concentrated. They include Great Britain and a few members of the British
Commonwealth, such as Canada and Australia, most of the countries of western continental
Europe, the United States, the U.S.R., and only Japan among the nations of the so-called non­
Western world. The overwhelming majority of present day countries will fall into the
"developing" category, although this does not, of course, imply that they are all at a common
level of development.

Models of Administrative Systems

Social scientists have suggested using models, corresponding to real world phenomena,
to guide investigation and analysis of administrative practices that actually prevail in existing
polities. A well-chosen model highlights general characteristics and their interrelationships in a
way that facilitates the gathering and interpretation of data about whatever subject matter is
being studied. The inevitability of using models of some kind for systematic study of any topic
has often been pointed out. The problem lies in choosing a model that matches reality closely
enough to aid in comprehending it.

We do have proposed models for the conduct of public administration and the operations
of bureaucracy in both the developed and developing countries. The Weberian or "classic" model
of bureaucracy applies essentially to the countries of Western Europe, which are the prototypes
for developed or modernized polities. For developing countries, the most elaborate model has
been formulated by Riggs in his "sala" administrative subsystem in the "prismatic" model for

[14]
transitional societies. Let us review the main features of these models and comment briefly on
their utility in explaining the information we have concerning bureaucracies in a range of
developed and developing countries.

The classic model of bureaucracy not only incorporates the essential structural
characteristics that have been postulated as definitive of bureaucracy as a form of organization­
hierarchy, differentiation, and qualification. It also specifies a network of interrelated
characteristics, both structural and behavioral, which identify bureaucracy of this type. An
underlying assumption is that the pattern of authority, which lends legitimacy to the system, will
be legal-rational rather than traditional or charismatic, and that within the bureaucracy rational
means will be used to comply with the commands of the legitimate authority. Bureaucracy is
above all a form of organization dedicated to the concept of rationality, and to the conduct of
administration on the basis of relevant knowledge. This calls for a series of arrangements.
Recruitment is based on achievement as demonstrated competitively rather than on ascription,
and similar criteria are to determine subsequent movement within the bureaucracy. Service in the
bureaucracy is a career for professionals, who are salaried and have tenured status, subject to
discipline or removal only on specified grounds following specified procedures. Administrative
. roles are highly specialized and differentiated; spheres of competence are well-defined and
hierarchical relationships are thoroughly understood. The bureaucracy is not an autonomous unit
in the political system but is responsive to external controls from legitimized political authority,
although there are tendencies within the bureaucracy toward evasion and self-direction.

This simplified model has been widely used to guide descriptions of, and comparisons
among, bureaucracies in modem nation-states, even though it does not accurately depict any of
them. The closeness of fit varies among political system subtypes in the modernized polities. The
greatest conformity is in such bureaucracies as those in Germany and France, which we have
designated as "classic" bureaucracies. The model is essentially acceptable when it is applied to
numberous other developed countries with a Western political tradition, including not only Great
Britain and the United States but also Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and several of the small
European countries. As. we move away from these developed but which are more removed from
the Western European political orbit, this classic model becomes increasingly less applicable. In
the two cases to be examined here Japan and the U.S.S.R. -the divergences are substantial, but
the model is still helpful for purposes of comparison.

When bureaucracies in the developing countries become the object of attention, however,
the inadequacy of the classic model becomes so apparent that it is nearly always abandoned in
favor of models chosen because they are presumed to correspond much more closely to actuality
in these societies. An outstanding example is the "prismatic-sala" combination proposed by
Riggs. No brief summary can do justice to the intricacies of this model or familiarize the
uninitiated with the specialized vocabulary used in presenting it, but we can indicate its
dimensions and implications.

[15]
 There is some ambiguity concerning the link Riggs sees' between the prismatic model
and existing societies. "Fused" and "diffracted" societies are models constructed deductively
from contrasting assumptions about the relationship between structures and the number of
functions they perform. A structure is "functionally diffuse" when it performs a large number of
functions, "functionally specific" when it performs a limited number of functions. The "Fused"
hypothetical model is of a society in which all component structures are highly diffuse; in the
"diffracted" model component structures are highly specific.30 These models cannot be found in
the real world, but they "can serve a heuristic purpose by helping us to describe real world
situations." Some real world societies may resemble the fused model, others the diffracted.

The "prismatic" model is of the same hypothetical type as the fused and the diffracted.
Designed to represent an intermediate situation between the fused and diffracted ends of a
continuum, it combines relatively also, there may be societies that have characteristics
resembling those of the model. Logically speaking, it would seem quite plain that no actual
society would be either completely fused or completely diffracted; all would be to some degree
prismatic in the sense of being intermediate. On a scale measuring the degree of functional
specificity of structures, presumably the pure prismatic model represents a society that 1s
midpoint between the fused and diffracted model, although this is not made entirely clear.

Although Riggs stresses the deductive nature of these models, he also emphasizes their
relevance for understanding phenomena in real societies. He has been "fascinated by the
prismatic model not only as an intellectual game but also as a device that might eventually help
us understand more about administrative behavior in transitional societies," The relevance of the
prismatic model to administration in developing countries is what interests us here.

The prismatic model in its entirety deals with the full range of social phen_omena and
behavior, subsuming political and administr4ative aspects. In other words, it is a model
pertaining to the ecology for administration in a type of society. This model is "intrinsically
paradoxical." Riggs examines the economic sector (describing it as a "bazaar-canteen" pattern),
the elite groupings ("kaleidoscopic stratification"), social structures, symbol systems, and
political power patterns. He then turns more specifically to public administration in prismatic
society, and evolves the "sala" model for the administrative subsystem. In line with the general
configuration of the prismatic model, administrative functions in such a society "may be
performed both by concrete structures oriented primarily toward this function and also by other
structures lacking this primary orientation." Such a situation calls for an alternative to
conventional ways of thinking about the conduct of public administration, since these are related
to experience in Western societies, which are closer to the diffracted model. Riggs suggests a
choice of terms to indicate the locus of bureaucratic action in each of the three models, as well as
a general term to cover them all. He chooses "bureau for the more comprehensive purpose, and
suggests "chamber" to denote the fused bureau, and "office" the diffracted one. For the prismatic
bureau, he employs the Spanish word "sala," which is widely used in Latin America and
elsewhere to refer to various kinds of rooms, including government offices, thus suggesting that
[16]
"interlocking mixture of the diffracted office and the fused chamber which we can identify as the
prismatic bureau."

The profile of administration in the sala drawn by Riggs rests basically on his treatment
of the power structure in prismatic society. He.finds that the scope of bureaucratic power, in the
sense of the range of the values affected, is only intermediate in the prismatic setting, but that the
weight of bureaucratic power( referring to the extent of participation in making decisions) is very
heavy as compared to either the fused or diffracted models. This is particularly so in polities that
have patterned their bureaucratic systems after more diffracted foreign examples. Rates of
political and bureaucratic growth are imbalanced in prismatic society. There the bureaucracy has
the advantage in competition with the political institutions, which might be better able to control
the bureaucracy in more diffracted societies, whether pluralistic or totalitarian. The weight of
bureaucratic power in prismatic society tempts bureaucrats to interfere in the political process.

A second and corollary proposition concerning prismatic administration is that the heavy
weight of bureaucratic power lowers administrative efficiency, in the sense of cost relative to
accomplishment, ministrative efficiency, in the sense of cost relative to accomplishment, with
the result that such an administration is less efficient than that in either a fused or a diffracted
system. The sala associated with unequal distribution of services, institutionalized corruption,
inefficiency in rule application, nepotism in recruitment, bureaucratic enclaves dominated by
motives of self-protection, and in general, a pronounced gap between formal expectations and
actual behavior. Administration in the sala model is "basically wasteful and prodigal." Many
factors combine in prismatic society to "heighten administrative profligacy." Riggs concedes that
this is a "gloomy view" but maintains it is one which "seems to grow out of the logic of the
prismatic model." It should be noted that Riggs does not make any claim about how well the sala
model fits any existing transitional society; indeed he emphasizes a need to research the extent to
which the sala attributes actually are found in particular developing countries. All he asserts is
that his model-building effort "rests on a substratum of empiricism."

[17]
 Public Policy
Public policy is a course of action adopted and pursued· by the government. Public policy analysis
is the study of how governmental policies are made and implemented, and the application of available
knowledge to governmental policies for the purpose of improving their formulation and
implementation.

Public Policy and the Policy Makers

Woodrow Wilson was the first president to hire social scientists in government. Herbert Hoover
also social scientists in government. Herbert Hoover also used social scientists to conduct the first
analyses of national economic and social trends, but Franklin Rooservelt's aggressive expansion of the
federal agencies that relied on social scientists to start, implement, and often devise new public policies.
It was President Lyndon Johnson who accorded (if inadvertently) policy analysis a
permanent place in the federal establishment. Johnson's attempt in 1965 to mandate Planning­
Programming-Budgeting government-wide though largely a failure, ultimately had a lasting impact on
many agencies in that it "diffused among government practitioners... systemic procedures for rigorously
testing policy alternatives. The enactment of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 and
the Office of Management and Budget's far-reaching decision in 1994 to staff its critical resource
management offices with policy analysts secured the place of policy analysis in the federal structure.

Today, "policy analyst" is an official job description in the federal civil service, most state
capitals, and some large local governments. Although the market for public policy analysts is smaller
than for public administrators, "policy analysis is one of the established knowledge industries." It is an
industry with some influence. Nonpartisan policy research organizations "-even those in highly
politicized environments-have a significant impact on policy making, mainly by providing information
and analysis to decision makers but also in influencing public policy outcomes."

Origins. It was only in 1951 that the first book on public policy analysis appeared. Policy
analysis gathered intellectual steam during the 1950s and 1960s, but not in the universities. It was,
rather, the preserve of engineers, operations researchers, and systems analysts, often working in think
tanks that had connections with government.
The universities' interest in public can be traced to a conference held in 1965 under the
auspices of the Social Science Research Council. In 1967, the first papers (four of them) on public policy
were presented at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, and, in 1970,
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-
The emergence of public policy can be understood, in part, as political science's effort to
fill the vacuum left by public administration's departure. For a half-dozen years during the 1970s, when
public administration's exodus from political science was in full flood, the numbers of both independent
schools and departments of public administration and public policy papers presented at the annual
conference of the American Political Science Association virtually doubled. In 1971, the Policy Studies
Organization, the first of the public policy associations, was founded, and, by almost seven out of ten of
whom were political scientists.
Political Science, Public Administration, and Public Policy. Public Policy now has three
primary homes in universities, and a few secondary ones, too.
One principal residence is political science departments. Political science's approach to
public policy is substantive, processual, descriptive, and objective. We call it the incrementalist

1
 .,
"\

paradigm, and it relates to the first part of our definition of public policy analysis: "the study of how
governmental policies are made and implemented." Its adherents are concerned with the substance of
some specific issue (such as the environment, crime, or whatever), and their publications often are titled
"The Politics of..." some substantive area.
A second home is public administration. Public administration's analytical approach to
public policy is theoretical, effectual, prescriptive, and normative. We call it the rationalist paradigm,
and it relates to the second part of our definition of public policy analysis: "the application of available
knowledge to governmental policies for the purpose of improving their formulation and
implementation." Its adherents are concerned with the development of theories of public policy making,
and the outputs and effects of those theories.
Public policy's newest home is schools and other freestanding units of public policy, most of
which emerged in the 1980s and beyond. These schools meld both approaches. Like political science,
they offer many courses in specialized, substantive issues of public policy, and typically require that
students select and specialize in one of these issues, such as environmental policy. Like public
administration, however, their faculties also favor a systemic approach to the field; the three courses
most commonly required by the top public policy programs are policy evaluation, microeconomics, and
decision making, all systematic in nature.
Public policy analysis can best be understood in terms of its two paradigms: The
incrementalist paradigm, favored by political scientists, and the rational paradigm, favored by public
administrations.

The lncrementalist Paradigm of Public Policy Making

Charles E. Lindblom is, perhaps, the leading representative of the incrementalist paradigm; it
was he who coined the term disjointed incrementalism as a description of the policy-making process.
Disjointed refers to the disconnect between the assessment of conditions and the development of
responses to them. lncrementalism means that very few, and, in terms of their potential impact, very
small, policy alternatives are considered by policy makers. Lindblom initially called disjointed
incrementalism "muddling through," a frankly more descriptive and less pompous moniker.
The incrementalist paradigm is innately conservative; new public policies are seen as
variations on the past. The policy maker is perceived as a person who does not have the brains, time,
and money to fashion truly different policies; he or she accepts the policies of the past as "satisficing"
and legitimate. lncrementalist policies are nearly always more politically expedient than are policies that
necessitate redistributions of social values. "What is most feasible is incremental."
An illustration of the incrementalis paradigm is shown in the paradigm has six
emphases, and we consider each in turn.

Incremental
variations on
an agency's
policies

2010 -2011 ---2012 2ofa ··2014--2015 - 2015 2017

The lncrementalist Paradigm of Policy making and Implementation

2
 The Elite/Mass Model

The elite/mass model contends that a policy-making/policy-executing elite, whose members

share common values and have more money, education, and power than the mass, governs a passive
mass in an environment characterized by apathy and information distortion. Policy flows downward
from the elite to the mass. Public policies are designed, above all else, to preserve the status quo.
A classic expression of elite theory can be found in C. Wright Mills's The Power Elite.

The Group Model

The group model of public policy making is predicated on the "hydraulic theory of politics," in
which the polity is conceived of as being a system of forces and pressures pushing against one another
in the formulation of public policy. Although the group model usually is associated with the legislature, it
also is pertinent to bureaucracies. Regulatory agencies, for example, often are "captured" by the groups
that they ostensibly regulate, defining the group's interest as the public interest.
An exemplary work that represents the group model is Arthur F. Bentley's The Process
of Government.

The Systems Model

The systems model relies on concepts of information theory (especially feedback, input, and
output), and conceives of the policy process as being cyclical and unending. Policy is originated,
implemented, adjusted, re-implemented, re-adjusted, ad infinitum. It is concerned with such questions
as: what constitutes the "black box" of the actual policy-making process? What are the inputs,
"withinputs," outputs, and feedback of the process?
A representative work of this literary stream is David Easton's The Political System.

The Institutionalist Model

The Institutionalist model focuses on the organization chart of government; it describes the
reporting arrangements and duties of bureaus, but ignores the living linkages between them.
Constitutional provisions,

The Elite/Mass Model of Public Policy making and lmplementaion

Ruling
elite

Mass

3
 Policy makes

Interest group A Interest group B

Political
/ Pressure pressure Political

► ◄
' power power
and and
skill skill

Public policy outcomes to Group B Public policy outcomes favorable to Group A

The Group Model of Public Policy making and Implementation

administrative and common law, and similar legalities are the objects of greatest interest. With
the onrush of the behavioral revolution in political science, institutional studies of the policy process
were swept aside in favor of studies that relied more heavily on the group, systems, and elite/mass
models, in about that order of emphasis.
Carl J. Friedrich's Constitutional government and Democracy is a representative work.
The Neo-lnstitutionalist Model
The Institutionalist model has experienced a resurrection, of a sort, that might best be
described as neo-institutionalism. The neo-institutionalist model categorizes public policies according to
policy-making subsystems and predicts institutional behavior accordingly. Theodore J. Lowi has done
much of the groundbreaking thinking in the neo-institutionalist model.
Arenas of Power. Lowi classifies policies by four "arenas of power," shown in Table 10-1
from these policy arenas emerge predictable political behaviors.
In a redistributive power arena, power is reallocated throught the polity on a
fundamental scale-so fundamental, in fact, that redistributive policies involve "not use of property but
property itself, not equal treatment but equal possession, not behavior but being." These policies tend
to be highly ideological, involving a fight between the "haves" and the "have-nots," but are secretive,
have low partisan visibility, and usually are centered in the bureaucracy.
The remaining three power arenas are less laden with drama. A distributive policy
provides benefits directly to each person, but costs are not obvious; for example, the Weather Bureau's
policy of providing weather reports is imposes visible costs on, particular groups; for instance, the
Federal Aviation Administration enforces safety lations. A constituent policy directly affects people as
political actors, but does not single out individual persons for either benefits or punishments; a
reapportionment statute is exemplary.

The Systems Model of Public Polley making and Implementation

Environment: Social and economic variables in the polity

Inputs: demands, The "black box" (or the

Outputs: goods, services,
resources, support, "conversion process," or and symbols to public
opposition "withinputs"): structures, _... and other policy makers
procedures, policy makers'
psycho-social framevvork

Feedback: The influence of outputs on the environment

. --------- -------�------ - ----------- -· ---···-···-·- - - - - - - - - -- - - ---

4
 t

Voters

Courts President Congress

__ _
;____

cabinet
The Institutionalist Model of Public Policy making and Implementation

Coercion: Probability and Targets. the neo-institutionalist approach is predicated on two

dimensions: the probability of coercion and the target of coercion.
The probability of coercion may be remote or immediate. In the redistributive and
regulative policy arenas, the possibility of coercion is immidiate because s violators of laws may be
punished as individual miscreants. In the distributive and constituent arenas, by contrast, coercion is
remote because give-and -take, logrolling, and negotiation prevail.

The target of coercion may be individual or systemic. In distributive and regulative arenas,
individual persons are targeted; the government wants to change their behavior, or protect, reward, or
punish them. In redistributive and constituent arenas, the government bypasses individuals and
attempts to manipulate the conduct of the system itself.

The Organized Anarchy Model

The organized anarchy model of public policy making is, at the risk of over-generalizing, an
extension of the "garbage can" theory of decision making The model is unique in teasing out the
process's messiness, humanity, and luck, and is, in many ways, a very satisfying explanation of how
public policy is made.
John W. Kingdon's classic, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, is representative of
this literature.
- ---------"""t"rcee'rla-nm'l!isi-Oot-Problems,--P91itics, and Policies. Basic to the--mGGel is the presence of three
"streams" that constitute the policy-making process.
The first of these is the problems stream, which involves focusing the public's and policy
makers' attention on a particular problem, defining the problem, and either applying a new public policy
to the resolution of the problem or letting the problem fade from sight. Problems typically are defined in
terms of values, such as conservative or liberal orientations; comparisons, such as the United States
versus Iran; and categories-for example, is public transit for the disabled a "transportation" problem or a
"civil rights" problem? Categorizing the problem becomes quite significant in how the problem is
resolved.
It is in the political stream that the governmental agenda- that is, the list of issues to be
resolved-is formed. The primary participants in the political stream comprise the visible cluster of policy
actors, such as high-lave! political appointees, members of Congress, and interest groups. A consensus is

5
achieved by bargaining among these participants, and, at some point, a "bandwagon," or "tilt," effect
occurs that is a consequence of an intensifying desire among the participants to be "dealt in" on the
policy resolution.
It is in the policy stream that the decision agenda is formulated. The decision agenda, or
alteranative specification, is the list of possible policies that could resolve the issue. Here the major
forces are not political, but intellectual and personal. Ideas and the role of the policy entrepreneur, or
the person who holds a deep and abiding commitment to a particular policy change, are paramount. The
major participants in the formulation of the decision agenda are the hidden cluster of policy actors, and
include career public groups (interest groups are powerful players in both the visible and hidden
clusters).
Phases. The policy stream moves from the formulation of a decision agenda to a
"softening-up phase" in which "trial balloons" are released and a variety of suggestions are made about
how to resolve a particular problem. These ideas survive according to whether they are technically
feasible, socially acceptable, and are perceived to be free of future constraints, such as budget
limitations. In both the policy and political streams, a consensus and, ultimately, a "tilt effect" occur, but
the policy stream arrives at those points through rational argument, whereas the political stream does
so via negotiation.

Windows and Agendas. A window is the opportunity to change an agenda or create a

policy, a window typically is opened by a shift in the national mood. When a window opens that results
in a restructuring of the governmental agenda, it could be solely the result of developments in either the
problem stream or the political stream. But for a window to open that results in a restructuring of the
decision agenda requires the convergence of all three streams. In this case, the role of the policy
entrepreneur is critical.

The Rationalist Paradigm of Public Policy Making

Rationalism is the opposite of incrementalism. The muddled, bounded rationality of the

incrementalist paradigm is eschewed in favor of methodically assigning relative weights to all social
values; listing all policy alternatives and fully comprehending their consequences, costs, including
opportunity costs, and benefits; and selecting the most efficient and effective policy to implement. The
rationalist paradigm is concerned with the nature of public goods and services, the relationships
between formal decision-making structures and human propensities for both individual action and
collective action, and the broad implications of technological innovation.
Must of the rationalist paradigm deals with the devising of public policies that assure
better public policies. Yehezkel Dror (AS as good a representative as any of the rationalists) calls this
concern rnetapolicy, or policy for policy-111akirrg procedures.
The rationalist paradigm conceives of public policy formation as a linear flow chart. We
review three "models" of the rationalist paradigm next, although we should note that the distinctions
among them are not as clear-cut as are the models comprising the incrementalist paradigm.

The Rational Choice Model

In 1963, a modest collection of scholars met to discuss, in their words, "developments in the
'no-name' field of public administration." Since then, names have been acquired, and they include
rational choice, public choice, and political economy. In its more applied mode this literature is often
called metropolitan organization, or local public economies.

6
 Rational choice basks in the sunbeam of social engineering. Consider, for example, the
issue of energy and the automobile. Rather than passing a law that says little more than "Thou shalt not
use too much gas," a political economist might turn instead to rigging the tax structure, reasoning that,
if a taxpayer chose to purchase a Hummer rather than a Honda, the general citizenry should not have to
buy a gas guzzler. Neither, however, should taxpayers be denied Hummers if they really want them
Thus, a special tax should be levied that taxes gas guzzlers more than compacts.

Optimality. On a more sophisticated plane, rational choice is concerned with "Pareto

optimality," a concept originally developed by the economist, Vilfredo Pareto. Or, more exactly (and
because optimality is supremely difficult to achieve in any contest}, rational choice concerns a Pareto
improvemt, or "a change in economic organization... that makes one or more members of society better
off without making anyone worse off.
Pareto optimality posits a hypothetical social valure("X") relative to the accomplishment
of all other social values. The indifference curve refers to the combination of values about which society
is indifferent (at least up to a point); the value achievement curve indicates the optimal combination of
values that it is possible for government to encourage, given limited resources. The point of optimal
achievement of value X and all other social values constitutes the point of Pareto optimality.

Tradeoffs. What value is being exchanged (and the social costs and benefits incurred in
such an exchange) for what other value. In other words, every time value X is achieved more fully, all
other values are correspondingly reduced in achievement.

Externalities. Executing public policies is a process that is far from tidy, and policies meant to
solve problems in one social arena can cause problems in others. This phenomenon is called an
externality, or spillover effect; that is, the impact of a public policy in one sphere "spills over'' into other
spheres.
Externalities may be positive or negative, intended or unintended. For example, a
positive, intended spillover effect of reducing corporate taxes might be to raise employment levels. A
negative, unintended externality of the same public policy might be to reduce the financial resources
available o the government for welfare programs.

The Technology Assessment and Forecasting Model

Technology assessment, or technological forecasting, is the evaluation of new technical and

scientific innovations in terms of their current or future spillover effects. For instance, medicine may be
viewed as a technology that, in its success in extending life, has been more responsible than any other
factor for the population explosion and environmental stress.
In 1972, Congress created an Office of Technology Assessment, which for twenty-three
years, served as a nonpartisan agency that assisted Congress in understanding complex, technical issues
affecting American society. Its 143 dedicated and talented professionals were terminated by Congress in
1995 as a cost-cutting measure. Nevertheless, technoiogy assessment continues to be a useful, if
relatively specialized, model for policy analysts.

The Strategic Planning Paradigm of Public Policy Making

lncrementalists want to understand public policy and how it is made. Rationalists want to
improve public policy and the way it is made. In part because of these divergent goals, both camps have
lobbed some arch accusations at each other.

7
 The Problems of the Paradigms

Rationalists have derided incrementalism as "a form of tiptoeing naked and buttocks-first into
history. Because incrementalism is based on negotiation, policy making rivals deliberately hide their real
goals, and, as a result, obvious and critical realities may be overlooked. lncrementalism also is singularly
uncreative and innately conservative. "Like beautifully muscled illiterates, incrementalists... have
overdeveloped powers of political calculation and underdeveloped powers of social imagination."
Transformations, even when they are clearly needed, are dismissed in favor of tinkering.
The rationalists also have their critics. The incrementalists object to the rigidity and
unreality that saturate rationalism, object to the rigidity and unreality that saturate rationalism,
especially its insistence on ignoring the human element. "We can no longer profitably discuss our world
and its future in simple linear terms... for the evidence all around us is of multidimensional, complex
actions. More to the point, the rationalists' restrictive myopia leads them to make predictions that are
often wrong.

A Third Approach

Wh�t is needed is "a third approach" that is "not as utopian as rationalism, but as conservative
as incrementalism. This third approach has acquired the title of strategic planning, or, less frequently,
strategic decision making or strategic management. Strategic planning emerged in the world of business.
Alfred Chandler, Jr., first called attention to it in 1962, and the evidence consistently suggests that
"strategic planning positively influenes firm performance.
Strategic planning combines the strongest features of incrementalism and rationalism,
yet avoids their pitfalls. It does not substitute numbers for important intangibles, such as human
emotions, but it does use computers and quantification to illuminate choices:
To succeed, strategic planning must start with the organization's top officers. It is not
done by planners. "First we ask: who is leading the planning? If it is a planner... we are in trouble.

Perils and Problems of Public Strategic Planning

Although strategic planning has been described as a "hearty, public-sector perennial," it is a

perennial that derives what heartiness it has from growing in thin and sandy soil.

· Planning Problems in Government: Vague Goals, Permeating Environmets. Private

corporations are m.uch more likely to use strategic planning than are government agencies. Why is this?
- -------BA
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-

vagueness," and agencies themselves are wide open to environmental forces, including not only the oft-
cited media, legislatures, and interest groups, to note a few, but also arbitrary time constraints, such as
budget and election schedules, that can rush or delay strategic decisions in ways that they no longer are
strategic. City managers and mayors agree that the single greatest obstacle to successful municipal
strategic planning is the "need to gain greater control over the external political environment."
Between them, squishy governmental goals and powerful outside forces can, intentionally or
unintentionally, crush agency ambitions and derail critical planning cycles. As a consequence, some
critics have alleged that "normal expectations have to be that most efforts to produce fundamental
decisions and actions in government through strategic planning will not succeed," and "bold moves" by
public executives will be rendered "almost completely impossible."

8
 Well Let us note that even these detractors allow for at least the possibility of "fundamental
decisions" and "bold moves" occurring in public strategic planning, and, of greater importance, remind
ourselves that revolutionary change is not necessarily central to successful strategic planning. Strategic
planning, recall, charts "a third approach" between plodding incrementalism, which shrinks from making
fundamental decisions and bold moves, and rip-roaring rationalism, which often embraces them. The
evidence suggests that public agencies use strategic planning as it should be used, scampering between
these two paradigms as they adapt strategic planning to their needs: depending on their situations,
some agencies tilt toward the incremental, relying on prudently "political" or "protective" strategies, but
others pirouette toward the proactively rational, and adopt "developmental" or even
"transformational" strategies. Sure, strategic planning is less likely to effect rapid and significant change
in public organizations than in private ones- which may explain why it is used less in governments than
in companies- bit strategic planning can sharpen agency goals and accelerate agency progress.

The Symbolic Uses of Nonprofit Planning. The use of strategic planning also seems limited in
the nonprofit sector, if for quite different reasons. In the third sector, strategic planning's limitations
may be less a function of a merciless environment and vague goals, and more a consequence of
organizational cynicism.
"Coercive pressure" exerted by external funding sources seems to be the primary reason why
independent organizations plan strategically. As a result, strategic plans developed by third-sector
organizations "may be largely symbolic ... and the planning process may be decoupled from other
strategic activities," such as improving performance.

The Benefits of Public Strategic Planning

Nine out of ten state agency heads identify strategic planning's usefulness in "clarifying agency
priorities" and "management directions" as its most important contribution to their agencies. More than
eight out of ten, the next highest response,. Cite its utility as a "guide to policy decisions."
"Senior officials" in municipalities that have completed one strategic plan estimate that two­
fifths, on average, f the plan's goals were accomplished, and in those communities where multiple
rounds of planning have been completed, the average estimate rises to three fifths of goals achieved. In
those cities that have completed at least one strategic plan, more than four-fifths of senior officials are
satisfied (52 percent) or very satisfied (33 percent) with its implementation and goal achievement.
Remarkably, 93 percent think that strategic planning is worth the time and expense that it entails, and
only 2 percent say that it is not. Almost nine out of ten local administrators say that completing the
strategic plan was beneficial or very beneficial in terms of focusing the city council's agenda on
irnpor tant issues, and providing their cu1111nunities with "a genuine sense of mission."
In the independent sector, strategic planning associates positively with organizational growth,
both in funding and membership; higher performance; greater effectiveness in attaining nonprofit
organizations' missions; and improved effectiveness by their boards of directors.
Although it is possible that the benefits of public strategic planning are more perceived than real
(one review of the literature concluded, dubiously, that "no careful study of the effectiveness of
governmental strategic planning has been done" ), it is nonetheless a most popular, and probably most
practical, approach to long-term policy making in government agencies and nonprofit organizations.

9
 EVOLUTION
Daniel Wren, worked extensively in the field of management evolution. Taking a cue from him the historical
evolution of management thought can be categorized as:
(i) Early Management thought.
(ii) Scientific Management thought.
(iii) Social Man era.
(iv) Modem era.
The early, thinkers who were mostly political economist were, Adam Smith, James Watt and Mathew Bonttom.
The early scientific managers, who tried to regulate the advancement in technology and industrial revolution
were: Robert Owens, Charles Babbage, Charles Dupin and Andrew Ure.
Later ASME (American society for mechanical engineers) was found in 1880 and was one of the first proporents
of search for scientific management. These included—Henry Towne, Fredricke Halsey, Henry Metcalfe, Daneil
Meccullum, FW Taylor, Henry Gantt, Frank Gilberth, Lillian Gilberth, Harrington Emerson Mobris Cooke,
Hugo Munsterberg, Wilder Scott to name a few.

Social Man Era.

MP Follett: Belonged to social man era, though technically she was from classical era. She was a pioneer in
the field of social work, organizational behaviour and organizational theory.
She gave concepts on democracy, human relations, political philosophy, psychology and conflict resolution.
In her capacity as management theorist, she pioneered the understanding of lateral processes within hierarchical
organizations (which led to formation of matrix-type organization, the first as Du-pont in 1920), the importance
of informal processes within organizations, and the idea of “authority of expertise”– which really served to
modify the typology of authority developed by her German contemporary, Max-Weber.
She recognized the holistic nature of community and advanced the idea of “Reciprocal relations hips” in
understanding the dynamic aspects of the individual in relationship to others. She advocated the principle of
“integration” or “non-coercive power sharing” based on the concept of “power-with” than “power-over”.
Her ideas on negotiation, power and employee participation were highly influential. She also pioneered the
establishment of community centres.
She actually shared the McGregor’s vision of quantum leaps in productivity effected through the humanization
of the work place.

Modern Approach
Contingency Approach
The major proponents of this approach are Joan Wood, Fred Fiedler, Lawrence. The contingency or situational
approach emphesizes the relevance of the actions in relation to the situational characteristics present. It is the
environmental complexing and uncentainty that gives rise to such a theory being used. The mechanistic
organisations tend to define clear lives of authority, with direction and communication dependent on the chain
of command and individual tasks are firmly divided. The mechanistic fines succeed in stable environments.
The other fines which were organic and more adaptive, when faced with irregular and unstable environments,
couto perform well, due to flexibility and expansive nature. The elasticity of such organisations was more as
compared to mechanistic firms.
Lawrence nd Lorseh, studied firms in three industries whose environments exhibited different degrees of
uncertainly on decision makers in the organisation. They observed that as change in the environment became
more rapid and frequent, these conditions imposed more uncertainly on decision makers in the organisation.
The contingency approach believes that it is impossible to select one way of managing that works best in all
situations like promoted by Taylor. It tries to integrate:
Conditions of the task (Scientific Management).
Managerial Job (Administrative Management).
Persons Involved (Human Relations).
to find out a solution which is the most appropriate in the given circumstance. The manager has to systematically
try to identify which technique or approach will be the best solution for a problem which exists as most pressing
or being contigent.
Say, a problem which is omnipresent is “How to increase the productivity?” The various solutions that can be
offered depends upon the view point we assme:
(i) Behavioural Scientists: Creat a climate which is psychologically motivating.
(ii) Classical Management Approach: Create a new incentive scheme.
(iii) Administrative Management (Management Process School): Apply more task oriented managerial style.
(iv) Contingency Approach: All the above ideas are viable and it depends on the possible fit of each solution
with the goals, structure and resources of the organization.
It should be realized that contingency approach is most really new because Taylor already emphasized the
importance of choosing the general type of mgmt. best suited to a particular case. Henri Fayol, also found
that there is nothing rigid or absolute in management affairs.
Similar ideas were pressed by MP Follett (1865-1933) in 1920’s, who was greatly interested it social work
and was genius for relating individual experience to general principles.
 CHARACTERISTIC OF ORGANISATION
ORGANISATIONS
Amitai Etzioni says “Ours is an organizational society”. We might derive our livelihood from one organization
but we come across multiple organizations for one thing or the other. An organization is something which
affects everyone, especially in the industrialized, urbanized society of today. WH Whyte’s “Organisation Man”
(1956), identified a new breed of administrators, and whose lives are dominated by them. The organisatinal
men are totally dedicated to their organization, adapting their personality to fit the organization.
The Oxford dictionary defines “Organisation” as “the action of organisaing, the structure of an organised body,
the fact or process of becoming organised. The word “Organise” is defined as “to form into a whole with inter-
dependent parts, to give a definite and orderly structure to”. Organisation, is thus a structure, an orderly one
at that, which means that is formed to achieve some purpose.
An organization is a social group deliberately created and maintained for the achievement of specific objectives.
In other words, organization is a conscious creation.
Secondly it consists of human beings, and finally these human beings are directed to achieve some explicit
goals. When human beings are employed to achieve the goals, division of labour inevitably follows and a
hierarchical authority structure emerges.
The basic unit of an organization is role, not persons. That is why its continues in existence despite change
or transfer of personnel.
But the other view is that work is performed by worers, who are human brings. Work and worker cannot be
separated. A worker is a total human being i.e. he is in multiple roles and he cannot be thought of being
separate from these roles while being in the organization.
Organisation conveys varying meanings and connotations to different people. But one common thread runs
through all of them. It consists of a set of relationships of jobs to jobs, of processes to processes, of persons
to persons. Organisation is a network of relationships. March & Simon in their book “organizations” say that
“organsations are systems of co-ordinated action among individuals and groups whose preferences. information,
intevests or knowledge differ”.
Robert Michels wrote “It is organisation that gives birth to the domination of the elected over electors, of
mandatories over mandators, of delegates over the delegators.”
Kinds of Organisation: Grower Starting, in his book (managing public sector), classified organization into
following five types:
(i) Leader-Follower Cluster: Most natural form of human relationship. The bonds are from Max Weber’s
authority basis.
(ii) Mosaic Organisations: This involves the putting together of separate distinct processes, glued only at the
edges, to form some pattern because of the autonomy of the process. This organization form is a social
interdependence concept. It involves connecteness only for a few particular purposes, in all other respects
the parts are independent. (e.g. SAARC)
(iii) Pyramidal Organisation: It symbolizes the structure of hierarchy emphasizing superior-subordinate
relationship. e.g. bureaucracy. It is in vogue, both in public as well as private.
(iv) Conglomerates: It is a cluster of organizations, all being pyramid like. Each pyramid has its own authority-
structure but the overall control of the entire structure vests is a core management that prevails over the
authority structures of the various pyramids, comprising the conglomerate. The pentagon in USA, holding
company form of organization in public undertakings in India, like SAIL, is are example.
(v) Organic Organisations: The analogy has been derived from biology. It is a loose network and thus it’s
parts enjoy antonomy to grow in many divections. It is parts also enjoy freedom to communicate with the
environment. This form believes in biological growth with man as the model, wereas pyramidal organization
rests on the machine analogy.
As warren Bennis writes “The language of the organisation theory reflects the machine metaphor: Social
engineering, equilibrium, friction, resistance, force, field etc. The vocabulary for adaptive organisation requires
an organic metaphor, a description of a process not a structural arrangement. This process must include such
terms as open, dynamic, developmental, organic, adaptive, etc.”
Lack of adaptibility is the worst short coming of bureaucracy, the basis of pyramidal organisation. Matrix
organisation is a compromise between the pyramidal organisation and the task force. It derives its name from
the number of team or project managers, who exercise traditional live control (e.g. technical, training etc.) over
the same people. Control over the subordinates is thus shared, each subordinate reports to two or more
supervisors. A matrix organisation is thus fluid.
Likert classified organisations into 4 systems:
System I: Provides an anthoritarian or exploirative environment, where there is low motivation, little interpersonal
support, and participation, downward communication and authoritarian control.
System II: Provides a benevolent environment. It is paternalistic. Not much different from system I.
System III: Provides consultative environment, Upward and downward communication, supportive leadership,
a degree of self-regulation and consultative goal setting.
System IV: Provides participative environment with more emphasis on self-regulation, mutual support, openness,
trust, high performance goals and more involved participation.
Likert said, most organizations are Systems II or III.
Post-bureaucratic organisatios, that mainly centre around study of human beings and their interactions, focused
on how the various parameters in the organizational design be made peeping human beings in the centre.
With increasing demands in the society becomes imperative for the modem governments and corporations to
craft new institutional models, that do not dominate the people but elicit their cupport.
Chris Argyris’s comment would be valuable in this regard, that as an individual grows in time and maturity,
he is not able to cope up in the paternalistic and rigid organisatinal environment, he needs a more emotional
and supportive organisation.
Most of the closed model of organizations catered to the lowest order needs of the employees V.I.Z. physiological
& security. Flexible and well communicated (networked) organizations, readily buy the idea that human beings
are not merely static entities and the organization must create enabling environment for their better overall
health and growth. Thus they let the people pursue higher goals of the Maslow’s pyramid V.I.Z. social, esteem,
self actualization, self transcendence.
Organisations have been studied by scholars belonging to different sub-disciplines. These include the
experimentalists, the socio-metrists, the group dynamisists, the clinical specialists and the culture anthropologists.
Approaches to organizational study:
1. Experimentalists: More concerned about measuring the phenomena of human behaviour. The are statisticall
and mathematically trained and they make a serious attempt to the study of human behaviour the rigorous
methodology of the natural sciences.
The experimentation involves mainly “observation”, as it studies the behaviour in existing organizations.
It attempts to establish standard effectiveness for the sub-units of the organization and compare the
observed behaviour of the more effective with the less effective sub-units. This was used by Rensis Likert,
in his Michigan Survey Research Center and Ohio Railroad experiment. (Employee centred – Task Centred)
Another experimentalists like Socio-metrists and Group-dynamicists, are primarily interested in studying
small groups.
The former seek to quantity sociological and psychological parameters, (J.L. Maoreno) and the latter are
more interested in creating techniques, rather than only describing the research findings. (Kurt Lewin).
Kurt Lewin, can be attributed with development of Group Dynamics study and organizational development.
(O.D.)
OD is a collection of planned change interventions, built on humanistic-democratic values, that seeks to
improve organizational effectiveness and employee well being.

Clinical Approaches
All organizations are confronted by individual members who are troubled, unstable and unhappy. There are
undoubtedly many people who are not by nature fitted to work in a team; others are vocationally misplaced
and still others are victims of misfortune beyond their control. All of this affects adversely their ability to
perform their work. The job security flowing from unionization and civil service has made it difficult to remove
them, the result being that the natural trend in organizations is to let such matters drift. To meet this problem
some organizations utilize clinical specialists such as psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and social workers.
Supervisory training also attempts to fit supervisors to handle problem cases not involving basic personality
defects. Taken all in all, this is one of the most vexing and unsolved problems confronting management. The
new research in motivation is producing valuable insights into how hierarchical leaders should we have. But we
are still largely helpless when faced with the necessity to change the behaviour of persons having basic
personality defects.

Cultural Approaches
Organisations have individual cultures peculiar to themselves. The behaviour of people belonging to organizations
is conditioned by their culture patterns. Some of these are the traditions, vocational modes of thought, methods
of production, habitual manner of accomplishing tasks, the social structure of the people, and the group
tensions which prevail. Culture has in the past been the province of the anthropologist, who has been primarily
interested isolated primitive people. There is happily developing a school of industrial anthropologists who are
studying management cultures. However, this need to be their exclusive hunting ground. What is needed is a
realization of the importance of culture in determining human behaviour, even in technologically advanced
industrial societies. If workers feel closer to the union than to their employer, the cause is partly cultural.
If “policeman enforces the law against some and not against others, their motivation are also cultural in nature.
Culture can be consciously changed but only if its roots and traits are understood by administrators.”
Organisations have an immemorial history. The organizations of the past were small in size, simple in nature
and based, moreover, on face-to-face relationship; the only exceptions being the Army and the Roman Catholic
Church. The Industrial Revolution (1780-1840), which shook the world to its roots, brought about a qualitative
change in the nature of organizations. For the first time, ownership and control were separated. The owners
were capitalists—or shareholders—and those who run the concerns are salaried managers. Thus hired personnel
run the organizations and they get their fixed salaries. How should their identification with their organization
be promoted? Yet another big change was in the offing, and that was the fruition of the idea of mass
production. Peter Drucker calls it a truly revolutionary principle, In 1912, Henrry Ford, the super-respectable
manufacturer of motor cars, turned out the famous ‘Model T’ car based on the assembly method of production.
Now the worker was separated from his product.
It would be pertinent to refer to J. Burnham’s thesis in this context. In his Managerial Revolution (1941), he
suggested that the rise of professional managers would create a new class to replace the old class of capitalists.
This divorce between the ownership of firms and their administration and control resulted from the way the
ownership was becoming fragmented and dispersed among numerous small shareholders instead of being
concentrated in a few hands. These managers are professionals, and they owe primary loyalty to their organisations,
not to the capitalists. They are more socially responsible, and have a new state of shared interests. These
managers, moreover, derive their legitimacy from their technical and professional competence.

Open and Closed Systems of Organisations

Organisations are classified as closed ones and open ones depending on their response pattern to environment.
Some organizational theories do not respond to the environment. They are closed ones, the example begin the
classical theory of organization. On the other hand certain theories of organization respond to the environment
and such ones are known as open systems. The systems theory o f organization is an open one. The closed
model or organizations are also known as bureaucratic, hierarchical, mechanistic. Such as a model generally
prevails in public administrations.
The closed model of organization bears the following distinguishing characteristics:
1. Routine tasks occurring in stable conditions.
2. task specialization (i.e., a division of labour).
3. means (or the proper way to do a job) are emphasized.
4. Conflict within the organization is adjudicated from the top.
5. “responsibility” (or what one is supposed to do, one’s formal job description) is emphasized.
6. One’s primary sense of responsibility and loyalty are to the bureaucratic sub-units to which one is assigned
(e.g., the accounting dapartment).
7. the organization is perceived as a hierarchic structure (i.e., the organization “looks” like a pyramid.
8. Knowlede is inclusive only at the top of the hierarchy (i.e., only the chief executive knows everything).
9. Interaction between people in the organization tends to be vertical (i.e., on takes orders from above and
transmits orders below).
10. The style of interaction is directed towards obedience, command, and clear superordinate/subordinate
relationships.
11. loyalty and obedience to one’s superior and the organization generally are emphasized.
12. Prestige is “internalized”, that is personal status in the organization is determined largely by one’s office
and rank.
The open model of organization, also known as collegial, free-market, competitive, organic organization. Its
principal attributes are the following:
1. non-routine tasks occurring in unstable conditions;
2. Specialized knowledge contributing to common tasks (thus differing from the closed model’s specialized
task notion in that the specialized knowledge possessed by any one member of the organization may be
applied profitably to a variety of tasks undertaken by various other members of the organization);
3. Ends (or getting the job done) a emphasized;
4. Conflict within the organization is adjusted by interaction with peers;
5. “shedding of responsibility” (i.e., formal job descriptions are discarded in favour of all organization members
contributing to all organizational problems) is emphasized;
6. one’s sense of responsibility and loyalty are to the organization as whole;
7. the organization is perceived as a fluidic network structure (i.e., the organization “looks” like an amoeba);
8. knowledge can be located anywhere in the organization (i.e., everybody knows something relevant about
the organization, but no own, including the chief executive, knows everything);
9. interaction between people in the organization tends to be horizontal, as well as vertical (i.e., everyone
interacts with everyone else);
10. the style of interaction is directed toward accomplishment, “advice” (rather than commands), and is
characterized by a “myth of peerage relationships” (e.g., a first-name “familiarity” exists even between
president and offices boy, on the logic that the maintenance of an image of intimacy is somehow “friendlier”);
11. task achievement and excellence of performance in accomplishing a task are emphasized;
12. prestige is “externalized,” that is, personal status in the organization is determined largely by one’s
professional ability and reputation.
13. TYPOLOGY OF THEORIES.
The word ‘theory’ is widely, even somewhat loosely, used in academic discussions and it certainly carries a wide
range of connotations. This should be clear from the way a standard dictionary defines it. Theory means
‘speculation’, the analysis of a set of facts in their ideal relations to one another; “the general or abstract
principles of any body of facts; pure as distinguished from applied science or art”; “a more or less plausible
or scientifically acceptable general principle offered to explain phenomenon”; “loosely, a hypothesis, a guess”.
Public administration is a practical field, so much so that it is even called ‘atheoretical’.
Impetus to organization theory comes from an effort to improve administrative productivity or performance
as well as from a disposition to learn more and more about human behaviour in organizations. Naturally,
organization theory evokes universal interest. It should also be remembered that there is no one theory of
organization—there are organizational theories. Principally, these theories are:
1. The Classical Theory of Organization.
2. The Human Relations Theory of Organization.
3. The Neo-Human Relations Theory of Organization.
4. The System Theory of Organization.
The Organization theories are described in the following table;
Time Theory Approach Value
Pre-1930s Classical Theory of Emphasis is on task management: Efficiency and economy
Organization formal organization, principles of
(i) Scientific Management organization. Takes rational
(ii) Formal Organization economic view of man.
(iii) Weber's Bureaucracy
1930s-1940s Human Relations Theory Hawthorne experiments highlighted Employee satisfaction
the social and psychological
influences on organizational
behavior. Emphasis on inter-
personal relations, communication,
leadership style, motivation,
morale. Takes a social view of man.
1950s-1960s Neo-Human Relations Further development of human Individual dignity,
Theory relations school by behavioural Personal growth,
scientists like Abraham Maslow, Innovations and
Rensis Likert, McGregor, Herzberg, creativity
Self-actualising man, Importance of
instrinsically rewarding work.
Modern Systems Theory Organizational behaviour viewed as Synthesis of human
Theory the outcome of the interaction of a dignity and
number of variables-economic, social, organizational
psychological, structural, technological productivity
which though independent are also
inter-independent are also inter-
dependant. Variables comprise the
organization system. Complex
view of man.
The classical theory is the oldest theory of organization emerging in the early part of the twentieth century.
All of its exponents, except Max Weber, were practitioners of administration, and their motivation came from
a determination to discover new and better ways of managing large complex organizations produced by the
Industrial Revolution. The concept and paradigms, which these practitioners developed, formed the foundation
for further theoretical refinements, and their influence on organizational thinking is durable and significant. The
classical theory has the following three strands: (i) Scientific management, (ii) formal organization theory and
(iii) bureaucracy.
 Classical Organisation Theory School
Scientific management was concerned with in-creasing the productivity of the shop and the individual worker.
Classical organization theory grew out of the need to find guidelines for managing such complex organizations
as factors.
Henri Fayol
Henri Fayol (1841-1925) is generally hailed as the founder of the classical management school not because he
was the first to investigate managerial behaviour, but because he was the first to system-atize it. Fayol believed
that sound management falls into certain patterns that can be identified and analyzed. From this basic insight,
he drew up a blue-print for a cohesive doctrine of management one that retains much of its force to this day.
With his faith in scientific methods, Fayol was like Taylor, his contemporary. While Taylor was basically
concerned with organizational functions, however, Fayol was interested in the total organization and focused
on management which he felt had been the most neglected of management most frequently to be applied.
Before Fayol, it was generally believed that managers are born, not made. Fayol insisted, however, that
management was a skill like any other one that could be taught once its underlying principles were understood.
Max Weber
Reasoning that any goal-oriented organization consisting of thousands of individuals would require the carefully
controlled regulation of its activities, the German sociologists Max Weber (1864-1920) developed a theory of
bureaucratic management that stressed the need for a strictly defined hierarchy governed by clearly defined
regulations and lines of authority. He considered the ideal organization to be a bureaucracy whose activities and
objectives were rationally thought out and whose divisions of labor were explicitly spelled out. Weber also
believed that technical competence should be emphasized and that performance evaluations should be made
entirely on the basis of merit.
Today we often think of bureaucracies as vast, impersonal organizations that put impersonal efficiency ahead
of human needs. We should be careful, though, not to apply our negative connotations of the word bureaucracy
to the term as Weber used it. Like the scientific management theorists, Weber sought to improve the performance
of socially important organizations by making their operations predictable and productive. Although we now
value innovation and flexibility as much as efficiency and predictability, Weber’s model of bureaucratic
management clearly advanced the formation of huge corporations such as Ford. Bureaucracy was a particular
pattern of relationships for which Weber saw great promise.
Although bureaucracy has been successful for many companies, in the competitive global market of the 1990s
organizations such as General Electric and Xerox have become “bureaucracy busters”, throwing away the
organization chart and replacing it with ever changing constellations of teams, projects and alliances with the
goal of unleashing employee creativity.
Mary Parker Follett
Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933) was among those who built on the basic framework of the classical school.
However, she introduced many new elements especially trends that would be further developed by the emerging
behavioral and management science schools.
Follett was convinced that no one could become a whole person except as a member of a group; human beings
grew through their relationships with others in organizations. In fact, she called management “the art of getting
things done through people”. She took of granted Taylor’s assertion that labor and management that the
artificial distinction between managers (order gtivers) and subordinates (order takers) obscured this natural
partnership. She was a great believer in the power of the group where individuals could combine their diverse
talents into something bigger. Moreover, Follett’s holistic model of control took into account not just individuals
and control took into account not just individuals and groups, but the effects of such environmental factors
politics, economics, and biology.
Follett’s model was an important forerunner of the idea that management meant more than just what was
happening inside a particular organization. By explicitly adding the organizational environment to her theory,
Follett paved the way for management theory to include a broader set of relationships, some inside the
organization and some across the organization’s borders. A diverse set of modern management theories pays
homage to Follett on this point.

The Role of Management theory

In the field of management, then, the role of theory is to provide a means of classifying significant and
pertinent management knowledge. In the area of designing an effective organization structure, for example,
there are a number of principles that are interrelated and that have a predictive value for managers.
Some principles give guidelines for delegating authority; these include the principle of delegating by results
expected, the principle of equality of authority and responsibility, and the principle of unity of command.
Principles in management are fundamental truths (or what are thought to be truths at a given time), explaining
relationship between two or more sets of variables, usually an independent variable and a dependent variable.
Principles may be descriptive or predictive, and not prescriptive. That is, they describe how one variable related
to an-other— what will happen when these variables interact. They do not prescribe what people should do.
For example in physics, if gravity is the only force acting on a falling body, the body will fall at an increasing
speed; this principle does not say whether anyone should jump off the roof of a high building. Or take the
example of Parkinsons Law: Work tends to expand to fill the time available. Even if Parkinsons somewhat
frivolous principle is correct (as it probably is), it does not mean that a manager should lengthen the time
available for people to do a job. As another example in management the principles of unity of command states
that more often an individual reports to a single superior, the more likely it is that the individual will feel a
sense of loyalty and obligation and the less likely it is that there will be confusion about instructions.
The principle merely predicts. It in no sense implies that individuals should never report to more them one
person. Rather, it implies that if they do so, their managers must be available of possible dangers and take these
risks into account in balancing the advantage and disadvantages of multiple commands.
Like engineers who apply physical principles to the design of an instrument, managers who apply theory to
managing must usually blend principles with realities.

Major Principles of Organizing

The structure of organization: Departmental activities
Organization involves the design of a departmental framework. Although there are several principles in this
area, one is of major importance.

Principles of functional definition

The more a position or a department has a clear definition of the results expected, activities to be undertaken,
and organization authority delegated and has an understanding of authority and informational relationships with
other positions, the more adequately the responsible individual can contribute toward accomplishing enterprise
objectives.
 Process of organizing
The various principles of authority delegation and of department formation are fundamental truths about the
process of organizing. They deal with phases of the two primary aspects of organizing- authority and activity
groupings. There are other principles that deal with the process of organizing. It is through their application that
managers gain a sense of proportion or a measure of the total organizing process.

Principle of balance
In every structure there is need for balance. The application of principles or techniques must be balanced to
ensure the overall effectiveness of the structure in meeting enterprise objectives.
The principles of balance is common to all areas of science and to all functions of the manager. The inefficiencies
o f broad spans of management must be balanced against the inefficiencies of long lines of communication.
Losses from multiple commands must be balanced against the gains from ex-pertness and uniformity in
delegating functional authority to- staff and service departments. The savings of functional specialization in
departmentalizing must be balanced against the advantages the advantages of establishing profit responsible
semi-independent product or territorial departments. It is apparent, once again, that the application of management
theory depends on the specific situation.

Principles of flexibility
The more that provisions are made for building flexibility into an organization structure, the more adequately
an organization structure can fulfill its purpose.
Devices and techniques for anticipating and re-acting to change must be built every structure. Every enterprise
moves toward its goal in a changing environment, both external and internal. The enterprise that develops
inflexibilities, whether these are resistance to change, too complicated procedures, or too-firm departmental
lines, is risking the inability to meet the challenges of economic, technical, biological, political, and social
change.

Principle of leadership facilitation

The more an organization structure and its delegation of authority enable managers to design and maintain an
environment for performance, the more they will help the leadership abilities of those managers.
Managerial effectiveness depends to a great extent upon the quality of leadership of those in managerial
positions, it is important for the organization structure to do its part in creating a situation in which a manager
can most effectively lead. In this sense, organizing is a technique of promoting leadership. If the authority
allocation and the structural arrangements create a situation in which heads of department tend to be looked
upon as leaders and in which their task of leadership is aided, organization structure has accomplished an
essential task.

Scientific Management
Scientific management owes its origin to Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915), who developed a number of
guidelines for managers to replace the hitherto prevalent ‘rule of thumb’ methods, even though he did not
create a science of management. Scientific management refers to that approach to problems of organisation
based on the work of Taylor.
Scientific management is the first coherent theory of organisation, and came to be formulated in the beginning
of the twentieth century. At that time, the conditions in factories were rather unplanned. There was nearly
complete absence of standardization of methods of work. The workers were left entirely to themselves in the
matter of choosing the methods to be employed for doing their work. Whether these methods were the
efficient ones, and whether the tools were of the right kind, were not the responsibility of management. It was
against such a general background of managerial unconcern for methods and tools of work that scientific
management emerged as a new philosophy of management. Frederick Winslow Taylor, an engineer by training,
is regarded as the father of scientific management, for it was he who first advocated the systematic adoption
of the methods of sciene to problems of management in the interest of higher industrial efficiency. Taylor
himself did not coin the term “scientific management’ to refer to his thoughts. This concept was first used by
Louis Brandeis in 1910. From that time onwards Taylor also began using this term. He pointed out: “Management
is a true science, resting upon clearly fixed laws, rules and principles, as a foundation.” He argued that management
comprised a number of principles, which commanded applicability in all types of organization: “The same
principles can be applied with equal force to all social activities; to the management of our homes; the
management of our farms; the management of the business, of our tradesmen, large and small; of our
churches, our philanthropic institutions, our universe and our government departments.” Scientific management
is described by Tylor thus ‘no single element, both rather this whole combination, which included—Science,
not rule of thum, Harmony, not discord, Cooperation, not individualism. Maximum Output in replace of
restricted output. The development of each man to his greatest efficiency and prosperity’.
In short, at the end of the nineteenth century, workshop administration in manufacturing industry in North
America and Europe was in the hands of the foreman and skilled workers, who in addition to performing the
physical tasks of production, decided how jobs were to be done, how the labour force was to be organised and
supervised, and who was to be hired. The scientific management movement of the early twentieth century,
associated with the name of its main advocate, F.W. Taylor, attempted to transform the administration of the
workplace so as to increase productivity.
Frederic Winslow Taylor, as already mentioned, is the most influential of the management pioneers. He applied
the scientific methods to the solution of factory problems and from these analyses built up orderly sets of
principles which were adopted in the place of the trial-and-error methods then in use. A detailed example of
how he applied the methods, which came to be called scientific management, is contained in the famous paper,
Shop Management, which he presented at the meeting of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers in
1903. Taylor’s philosophy is described more specifically in The Principles of Scientific Management, a speech
he delivered at a conference on the subject in 1911. Here, Taylor also tells the stories behind two milestones
in management history; his study of the ‘science’ of shoveling at the Bethlehem Steel Company at the Midvale
Steel Works.
The fundamental philosophy of scientific management is enunciated by Taylor himself. As he says:
Scientific Management is not any efficiency drive....nor is it any bunch or group of efficiency devices. It is not
a new system of figuring costs, it is not a new scheme of paying men it is not time-study: it is not motion
study...,
Now, in its essence Scientific Management involved a complete mental revolution…. The substitution of this
new outlook—this new viewpoint—is of the very essence of scientific management, and Scientific Management
exists nowhere until after this has become the central idea of both sides.
Mental revolution, or the new outlook, is the hard core of scientific management. Scientific management is
wide-ranging in its coverage and requires the fulfilment of the following two basic conditions without which
it cannot be said to exist in any establishment. First, both the management and the workers must take their
eyes off the division of the surplus as the all-important matter, and turn their attention towards increasing the
size of the surplus. Secondly, both sides must recognise as essential the key importance of exact scientific
investigation and knowledge and discard the old traditional individual judgement or opinion in all matters.
Only after a breakthrough in the mental outlooks of both the management and the workers has been achieved
does an organisation provide a congenial environment for the introduction of scientific management, which
includes the following four principles.
1. Develope a science for each element of a man’s work, which replaces the old rule of thumb method
(that is, the development of a true science).
2. Scientifically select and then train, teach and develope the workman whereas in the past he choose his own
and trained himself as best as he could (that is, the scientific selection of workmen).
3. Cooperate with the workers so as to ensure all of the work being done in accordance with the principles
of the science which have been developed (that is, his scientific education and development).
4. There must be an almost equal division of the work and the responsibilities between the management and
the workmen. The management should take over all work for which they are better fitted than the
workmen, while in the past all the work and the greater part of the responsibility were thrown upon the
worker (that is initiate friendly cooperation between management and the labour).
Taylor’s view, thus, was that a manager should: (i) develop, through scientific analysis and experiment, the best
method for performing each task; (ii) select and train workers to use the best methods; (iii) cooperate with
workers to ensure performance in accordance with the principles of science; and (iv) view management and
the workers as two equal components in a enterprise.
In Taylor’s own words: “The principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for
the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee.” Taylor’s views were extended and
developed by his colleague Henry Lawrence Gantt (1861-1919) and by the industrial engineers, Frank Bunder
Gilbreth (1868-1924) and Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972), who laid the foundations of the modern
science of work study.
Taylor put forward three principles of reorganization:
1. Greater division of labour: Production processes were to be analysed systematically and broken down to
their component parts, so that each worker’s job was simplified and preferably reduced to a single, simple
task. Greater specialization would lead to greater efficiency, while the deskilling that followed that
simplification of tasks would also allow cheaper, unskilled labour to be hired. Greater division of labour
would in turn remove the planning, organizing and hiring functions from the shop floor. Greater specialization
was also to be encouraged among managers.
2. Full managerial control of the workplace was to be established for the first time, and managers were to
be responsible for coordination of the production process that greater division of labour had fragmented.
3. Cost accounting based on systematic time-and-motion study was to be introduced to provide managers
with the information they needed in their new roles as the controllers of the workplace.
Taylor was deeply concerned about the quality of the relationships that existed between management and
workers in the factories around him and about the inefficiency and work dodging that were a feature of the
industrial life he experienced. He came quickly to the belief that these troubles were due to managerial laxity.
There was a universal tendency to leave the details of work performance to the discretion of the workers and
work was therefore performed inefficiently; the manager had only the crudest understanding of how much work
could reasonably be expected of a worker and this led to constant disagreements and bitterness between
management and men, and the workers were inadequately motivated to give of their best. Taylor accordingly
devoted his life to the development of techniques for the study of work and the determination of the most
efficient way for each task to be performed. By careful observation and timing by stopwatch, ‘objective’
standards of performance could be determined and incentive system devised which would reward the high
performer and penalse the low performer.
Taylor thus believed that managers must accept full responsibility of planning, organising and supervising work.
The skill and experience of the better workers were to be analysed and classified so that they might be reduced
to rules, laws and formulae. Therefore, once the best way to do a job has been ascertained by traind observation,
the workers should be scientifically selected and would assume the duties for which they were better fitted than
the workmen and the latter would be free from responsibilities they were not fit to discharge. Taylor was of
the opinion that every employee had two needs: high wages and the opportunity for personal advancement.
The worker was thus viewed, and treated, as an individual ‘workhorse’ in social isolation. It was a fundamental
tenet that managers should never deal with workers in groups.
The Taylor approach attracted many disciples, most notably Gilbreth, who have exerted considerable Influence
on management thought and behaviour. Despite the naivety of the assumptions concerning motivation and the
patent exaggeration of the claim to scientific objectivity, scientific management spread rapidly to virtually all
industrial countries, including the former Soviet Union. It stands manifested not only in the growth of work
study, production engineering; production scheduling, etc., but also in the promotion of an attitude of mind
which seeks the collection and analysis of data as the basis for decision-making and the increasing rationalization
of production processes.
Scientific management takes a rather mechanistic and economic view of human nature. According to scientific
management; workers are like cogs in a machine: a view of which has been discovered to be untrue by later
researchers. Workers do not always behave in an economically rational way. Scientific management fails to take
account of how people at work are affected by social variables like informal group behaviour. Scientific/
management is described as a micro-approach to the study of organization: how can performance at the shop
floor level be maximized.
Scientific management addressed itself to the problems of the ‘shop floor’—that is, the bottom part of an
organisation, where the work performed is repetitive and routine. Taylor’s scientific management was supremely
concerned with organizational efficiency interpreted in only mechanistic terms. Scientific management viewed
man as but an adjunct of the machine; it, therefore, sought to make him like a machine, and as efficient as
a machine itself. This is a rather degrading view, and unacceptable to modern man. It must always be remembered
that man is not a machine. Secondly, scientific management oversimplified the worker motivation. To argue,
as Taylorism did, that an employee is motivated by high wages, is grossly to underestimate the meaning of
human motivation. Likewise, the assumption that an individual exists in isolation from his social environment
is erroneous. Scientific management is also called the “physiological organisation theory’. It is concerned with
only that range of human behaviour, which relates to production. Here, too, it completely neglects, for instance,
the psychological aspects.

Summing up
The scientific study of ‘principles’ of administration was first attributed to Frederic W.
Taylor. What is called scientific management was originally referred to as the Taylor system or task and bonus
management. These terms were later replaced by ‘scientific management’ after the hearings before the Inter-
State Commerce Commission in 1910-11. Taylor was mainly concerned with time study and rest pauses. It was
Gilbreth who gave attention to the motions of workers and invented scientific apparatuses Ike stop-watch,
cinematography, cyclegraph, and stereocyclegraph.
Taylor’s scientific management was heavily based on incentive schemes, which had their serious weaknesses.
Taylor extolled economic incentives at the expense of other factors which matter in human happiness such as
personal liberty. The uniformity of movements or monotony of continually handling the material can never
be compensated for by economic incentives, which must go side by side with social and welfare incentives.
Scientific management aroused opposition also because of its over-reliance on mechanisms. Indeed, scientific
management practically signified mechanisms associated with it, like the timing devices, instruction cards and
the use of functional foremen. Taylor’s original intention—namely that scientific management should involve
a ‘complete mental revolution, both on the part of the management and of the men’ was obscured and
forgotten. Dwight Waldo identified the following four major principles of scientific management:
1. The development of a true science;
2. The scientific selection of workmen;
3. The scientific education and development of workmen; and
4. Intimate, friendly cooperation between the management and the men.
Yet another weakness of scientific management did not influence industrial relations in India. India was
a colony of the British. The British rulers were never enamoured of Taylorism, their attitude to it being
“vague, cool and distant”, in the words of Rasamund Thomas.
Fredrick Winslow Taylor believed that an individual knows his self-interest best and as such he would
instinctively maximize his take home pay. What self-interest is to an individual, profit motive is to an
organisation. Self-interest is the basis of piece rate system of wage fixation. Taylor’s core believe in the
primacy of self-interest sees a revival and reassertation today in the form of public choice theory and New
Public Management.

Neo-Taylorism
The term ‘New-Taylorism’ has begun to be used since the eighties in public administration. Since the eighties
emphasis is placed or better management of the public sector. This is sought to be achieved by introducing
in public administration the economic theories of organization lke the public choice and the principal agent
model of the private sector. In other words, the emphasis should be on incentives and performance measurement.
Reforms such as these call for a change in culture from one of routine bureaucratic response to public demands.
The traditional culture should be replaced by an enterprise culture based on incentives and which is performance-
oriented. The new culture focuses on managerial skills corporate plans and performance agreements like
memorandum of understanding.
Such a change is given the name of ‘new Public Management’ or ‘New-Taylorism’. Neo-Taylorism seeks to
adopt the private sector model of corporate planning, delegation of managerial responsibility to public
administration. The weakness of New Public Management lies in the fact that it fails to comprehend the
complexity of public administration. One must warn that public administration is closely integrated with
constitutional history, ethics and mandates, it cannot be run like a corporation in a private sector.
 The Formal Organization Theory
This theory is also known as the administrative management theory. The term ‘administrative management and
Max Weber’s bureaucracy are essentially in harmony with the spirit of the formal organisation theory and thus
belong to the latter’s family. Even other theories like the social psychology one are in the nature of supplements
to the formal organisation theory and in a way they seek to supplant it. So important is the form al organisation
theory that it is adopted as the base for all administrative reform committees: the content of the formal
organisation, theory is the stuff the administrative reforms are made of. Thus both its advocates and its critics
pay tribute to it—the former by applauding it and the latter by criticising it. Its proponents include J.D.
Mooney, A.C. Reiley, L.F. Urwick, R. Shelton, Mary Parker Follett, etc. This theory is thus developed by
practitioners and it believes in the existence of certain principles of organisation by the application of which
organisations could be administered more efficiently. These principles are of universal application not only
spatially. The advocates of the theory believe that administration is administration, regardless of the type of
work being undertaken or the context within which it is performed. The formal organisation theory deals with
the anatomy of organisation, or do be more correct, formal organisation.
According to the theory, an organization is a product of rational thought. An organization has and objective
to achieve, which it undertakes—tasks. These tasks can be so organized as to accomplish efficiently the
organizational objectives. The theory assumes that the employees’ behaviour is rational, and logical. ‘Rational’
her means that human behariour falls within the same system of rationality that permeates the setting up of
the organization. It is thus based on some deductions, and attempts to specify what an thus based on some
deductions, and attempts to specify what an organization should be. The formal organization theory is thus
analytical, developing normative models. The main elements of this theory are objectives, tasks, rational
behaviour, coordination and authority.
This theory was first formulated in 1931 in the USA when Mooney and Reiley (both senior managers with
General Motors) published Onward Industry. In 1939 this book was republished under the catchy title The
Principles of Organisation. Mooney and Reiley were trying to discover certain universal principles of organisation,
and enunciated the principles of coordination, hierarchy; functional differentiation (i.e. division of work) and
line and staff.
It is, however, Henri Fayol (1841-1926) who is regarded as the most prominent enunciator of this theory. His
General and Industrial Administration is a classic treatise and according to Urwick, this book “has probably
had more influence on ideas of business management in Europe, and especially in the Latin countries, than any
other work”. Fayol classified all activities in an organisation into the following six groups: technical, commercial,
financial, security, accounting and administrative.
Technical activities deal with production in manufacture, adaptation, etc. Commercial activities are concerned
with buying, selling and exchange. Financial activities deal with protection of property and persons. Accounting
activities cover stock-taking, balance-sheet, costs, statistics. etc. Administrative activities deal with planning,
organisational command, co-ordination control. Administration, according to hum is an independent activity
and comprises the following five elements: forecasting and planning, organising, commanding, coordinating, and
controlling. To administer is to forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to coordinate and to control; to
foresee and provide means examining the future and drawing up the plan of action; to organise means building
up the dual structure, material and human, of the undertaking; to command means maintaining activity among
the personnel; to coordinate means binding together, unifying and harmonizing all activity and effort; to control
means seeing that everything occurs in conformity with the established rule and expressed command.
Administration thus understood is neither an exclusive privilege nor a particular responsibility of the head or
senior members of the business; it is an activity spread, like all other activities, between head and members
of the body corporate. The managerial function is quite distinct from the other five essential functions.
It should not be confused with government. To govern is to conduct the undertaking towards its objective by
seeking to derive optimum advantage from all available resources and to assure the smooth working of the six
essential functions. Fayol propounded fourteen principles of organisation, which maybe enumerated as follows:
1. Division of work.
2. Authority.
3. Discipline.
4. Unity of command.
5. Unity of direction.
6. Subordination of individual interest to general interest.
7. Remuneration.
8. Centralization or decentralization.
9. Scalar chain.
10. Order.
11. Equity.
12. Stability of tenure.
13. Initiative.
14. Esprit de corps.
1. Division of Work.
The object of division of work is to produce more and better work with the same amount of effort.
Division of work promotes specialization which is necessary to make available the required knowledge and
expertise. The advantages from division of work are universally recognised, yet it has its limits, which
experience and a sense of proportion teach us, may not be exceeded.
2. Authority and Responsibility
Authority is the right to give orders and the power to exact compliance. Authority may be formal flowing
from the position in the organizational hierarchy. Also, it may be personal, flowing from personal
characteristics. Ideally both authority and responsibility should be interrelated: responsibility must go with
authority and what is more, it must match authority. Authority seeks to direct organisational activity in
the right direction and sanctions must be imposed on the unconforming. The spread of direct responsibility
is dealt with by the principle of span of control. Span of control means spread of each person’s direct
responsibility. Graikunas produced the formula of ‘five or most probably four.’
3. Discipline
Discipline is in essence obedience by employees of an organization. According to Fayol, “Discipline is
absolutely essential for the smooth running of business and without discipline no enterprise could prosper.”
Its source may lie in formal or unwritten agreements between management and workers as to what is
 proper conduct. Or, it may be imposed by management without consultation with the employees.
A requisite of discipline is the presence of good superiors at all levels. This is why it has been said that
discipline ‘depends on the worthiness of the leaders.’
4. Unity of Command
‘Unity of command’ means that an employee receive orders from only one superior. The importance of
this principle can hardly be exaggerated. In Fayol’s words, “should it be violated, authority is undermined,
discipline is in jeopardy, order disturbed and stability threatened.”
5. Unity of Direction
According to this principle, there can only be one head of the organization and his job is to ensure that
all efforts in it are directed towards the realization of the same goals.
6. Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest
This means each employee must submerge his personal interest and work for the organization. At the
levels of the section and the department, group interests and aims should be subordinated to the common
good.
7. Remuneration of Personnel
Remuneration of personnel is the price of services rendered. The rate of remuneration depends”, first, on
circumstances completely independent of the employer’s will and employee’s worth, such as cost of
personnel, general business conditions, the economic position of the business, etc. Ultimately, it depends
on the value of the employee. Remuneration must be fair and satisfy the employer as a reasonable cost
for services rendered and the employee as a means of livelihood and return for effort.
8. Centralization
Centralization, like division of work, belongs to the natural order: “sensations converge towards the
brain…, and from the brain… orders are sent out, which set all parts of the organism in movement.”
The question of centralization or decentralization is a simple question of proportion; it is a matter of
finding the optimum degree for the particular concern. The degree of centralization must vary according
to circumstances and the abilities of the people concerned, the objective being to promote the optimum
utilization of all faculties of the personnel.
9. The Scalar Chain
The scalar chain is the chain of superiors renging from the ultimate authority to the lowest ranks, form
the top to the bottom of the business. The chain of authority must be unbroken: at each level an employee
must have an immediate boss, who himself has a boss and this goes up to the level of the managing
director. Nobody must be out of the chain. The scalar chain—or hierarchy—serves multiple purpose: it
is a channel for authority, for communication up, down and sideways, and for decision-making. Fayol,
however, made one exception. With the previous consent of their respective bosses, two employees on
different chains can enter into direct contact across the ‘gangplank’, reach a decision and inform their
bosses of the decision. The use of the gangplank is simple, swift and sure.
10. Order
The principle of order reposes its faith in: “a place for everything in its place”. This applies to human or
social order, materials or layout.
11. Equity
Justice, kindliness and fairness must permeate the entire administration, and these must not only be done
to all, but also be seen to be done.
12. Stability of Tenure of Personnel
An organization should provide a stable tenure to all its employees. Also, an employee should have
minimum period of stay in a post so that he can deliver the goods. Outsiders may occasionally be
employed, thus permitting lateral entry, but this should be done only when there are reasons for doing so.
13. Initiative
Fayol lays down principles of authority, discipline, unity of command, centralization and scalar, but at the
same time the surprisingly, mentions ‘initiative’ also. By ‘initiative’ he means the power of thinking out
a plan and executing it and thus ensuring its success. An organization must encourage and develop
initiative among its employees at all levels, which really represents a great source of strength for the
business. But this must be allowed only within limits of respect for authority and discipline.
14. An Esprit de Corps
An organisation must tirelessly promote harmony among its personnel, which really is its true strength.
Fayol roundly condemns the all too frequent management practice of divide and rule, which never pays.
Equally strong is his advocacy for verbal in constrast to written, contacts. Fayol says: “In dealing with a
business matter or giving an order which requires explanation to complete it, usually it is simpler and
quicker to do so verbally than in writing. Besides, it is well known that differences and misunderstandings
which a conversation could clear up, grow better in writing. Hence it follows that; wherever possible,
contacts should be verbal, there is gain in speed, clarity and harmony.”

Mooney and Reilly’s Principles of Organization

In 1931 James Mooney and Alien Reilly’s jointly published their Onward Industry; which had a major impact
on organisation theory. Mooney and Reilly highlighted four principles of organisation, which are universal, in
the sense they are found in all kinds of organisation, governmental, business, religions etc.
1. The Coordination Principle
Organization begins when people combine their efforts for a given purpose. An example is two persons
lifting a weighty object. The efforts of these two persons must be coordinated.
2. Te Scalar Process
It is essential to the very concept of organization that there must be a process through which the supreme
coordinating authority operates through the whole organization. The scalar process is called hierarchical.
It means the gradation of duties according to the degree of authority and corresponding responsibility.
3. The Functional Effect
By functionalism is meant the differentiation between kinds of duties.
4. Line and Staff
This principle is discussed elsewhere in the present work.
One must note here that while laying emphasis on the principles of organization, Mooney states:
One must note here that while laying emphasis on the principles of organisation, Mooney states: “In this
outline of the structural principles of organization, I have done on more than expose the scaffolding the
framework out of which it is made. In stressing the importance of the framework, I hope none will think, I
am overlooking the major importance of the human factor. Humanly speaking, the strength of any organization
is simply the aggregate strength of the individuals who compose it.”
The formal organization theory enunciated by Henri Fayol, James Mooney and Relley is called administrative
management. It is called so as it is focused on the upper hierarchical levels of organization.
The most comprehensive enunciation of the classical theory is contained in Paper on the Science of
Administration (1937) edited by Luther Gulick and L. Urwick. Luther Gulick summed up the principles of
organization in the word POSDCORB, each letter of which stands for a particular function. According to
Gulick, POSDCORB is made up of initials and stands for the following activities:
Planning, that is, working out in broad outline the things that need to be done and the methods for doing them
to accomplish the purpose set for the enterprise.
Organising, that is, the establishment of the formal structure of authority through which work sub-divisions are
arranged, defined and coordinated for the defined objectives.
Staffing, that is, the whole personnel function of bringing in and training the staff and maintining favourable
conditions of work.
Directing, that is, the continuous task of making decisions and embodying them in specific and general orders
and instructions and serving as the leader of the enterprise.
Coordinating, that is, the all important duty of inter-relating the various parts of the work.
Reporting, that is, keeping those to whom the executive is responsible, informed as to what is going on, which
thus includes keeping himself and his subordinates informed through records, research and inspection.
Budgeting, that is with all that goes with budgeting in the form of fiscal planning, accounting and control.
According to this theory, organization is the formal structure of a plan, amenable to creation in accordance with
clearly-understood principles much like the plan of a building, prepared in advance by the architect according
to some principles. This concept stems from two beliefs, namely (i) that there is a body of principles in
accordance with which an organisation plan can be spelt out to fit into the requirements of the chosen purpose
or activity, and (ii) that the requisite personnel must meet the requirements of this preconceived plan. It may
thus be seen that this theory views an organisaton as a machine, considering the human beings who run it as
mere cogs. In the words of L.D. White, it is “a formal declared pattern of relationships established in government
by lw and by top management. It is based on the nature and volume of work to be done and materials and
by the need for responsibility. This organization is established and supported by authority and can be set out,
although imperfectly, on a chart or diagram. It is normally the dominant set of work relationship.
This approach “bears the stamp of the engineer weeking scientific precision, logical structure, and the one best
way of performing each step and of relating the parts to a unified whole.” It is marked by an almost exclusive
attention to the problems of the structure in the roles relations, i.e. activities and tasks laid down to ensure the
most effective and efficient organization. Focus is thrown, not on the human beings as such, but on the role
as it (i.e. the role) relates to other roles in the context of the organizational objective. This theory manifests
five features: impersonality, flexibility, division of work, hierarchy and efficiency. Further, it is marked by the
following six philosophical characteristics:
(a) It is atomistic in the sense that it sees the individual in isolation from his fellow-men.
(b) It is mechanistic. It does not explain the dynamics of organizational behaviour.
(c) It is static.
(d) It is voluntaristic. It rests upon the naïve belief that the individuals are immune from the control either
by the groups or social factors.
(e) It is rationalistic. By rational behaviour is meant performance of task according to method determined by
the principles of scientific work performance; and
(f) It does not take any note of non-economic incentives.
The formal organization theory of organization is made explicit in organization chart, rule books, manuals, rules
of procedures, etc. It deals with what is called formal organization—an organization which is deliberately and
rationally designated to fulfil the objectives of an organization. The classical theory treats an organisaton as a
closed system, completely unconnected with, and uninfluenced by, its external environment. It is more concerned
with what ought to be, and this kept it away from the study of actual behaviour in organization. It underestimated
the human factor and oversimplified the human motivation. Besides, although this theory sets out to develop
principles of organization, they were, according to critics, no better than mere ‘proverbs’, hardly providing any
meaningful guidance to scholars and practitioners of the subject. Despite these limitations, the theory played
a notable role in rationalizing and even stimulating production. Secondly, it was this theory that first propounded
the idea that administration itself was a separate activity, 2nd was worthy of intellectual investigation. Thirdly,
it formulated a set of concepts in administration and evolved a terminology, which have provided a base for
subsequent researches in this field. Finally, the limitations of this theory stimulated further researches in
organizational behaviour, thus becoming an important milestone in the development of organization theories.

Summing Up
‘Classical organization theory’ was the name given by Herbert Simon to traditional twentieth century theories
which cover the contributions of Frederick Taylor, Max Weber, Henri Fayol, James Mooney, Luther Gulick
and Lyndall Urwick. Regarding whether Weber’s theory falls under the classical organization theory, there is a
milk diagreement. While V. Subramaniam would exclude Max Weber’s contribution from Classical Organisation
Theory, D. Katz and R.L. Kahn would include it. Thinkers associated with this theory share certain points in
common. First, they view the organisation as a machine, even though it consists of human beings. Just as a
machine is built by certain sets of specifications, they aver, so can an organisation be created according to a
given design or blueprint. This is why it is called the ‘machine theory’ or ‘formal organisation theory’. Secondly,
the proponents of this theory advocated scientific principles of administration. Although they differed in the
way they scarched for these principles, their faith in thetas was firm and unshaking. Taylor approached the
search for scientific principles by relying on measurement and experimentation, while Fayol and Gulick distilled
principles from their own experience of administration. The list of specific principles they fonnulated naturally
differed. But all are agreed that the classical organisation theory is the foundation of twentieth century
administrative thought. The emphasis here plainly was on the machine elements of the organization.
That the organization comprises the human elements received organized attention only around the 1920s.
Experiments had begun to be conducted in the USA in the human elements in the Hawthorne Plant of the
Western Electric Comopany, Chicago. The Hawthorne experiments highlighted the human needs and human
problems of the employees. They showed that an informal organization—by which is meant the spontaneous
emerging network of personal and social relations among employees—exists within the formal organization.
The human relations theory is also called the ‘informal organizations theory’ because of its emphasis on
informal structure of the organization.
In short, during 1900-39, public administration was dominated by the classical organisation theory and the
human relations theory. To this list were added the decision-making theory and systems theory, but this
development occurred-after the Second World War.

The Bureaucracy
The word ‘bureaucracy’ had an undisguisedly negative image even at the time of its origin. Today also,
especially in the eyes of the uninitiated, the tern continues to be one of abuse, even if of a milk intensity.
‘Bureaucracy’ lends itself to two usages: it refers to the tasks and procedures of administration, and is also a
collective word for a body of administrative officials. In addition, it frequently stands for inefficiency and an
improper exercise of power on the part of officials, and thus has severely negative connotations.
The word ‘bureaucracy’ was first coined by Vincent de Gournay (1712-59), a French economist. He observed:
“We have an illness in France which bids fair to play havoc with us; this illness is called bureamania.” In 1765,
the Baron de Grimm, the French philosopher, wrote: “The real spirit of the laws of France is that bureaucracy...
here the officers, clerks, secretaries, inspectors and intendants are not appointed to benefit the public interest,
indeed appear to have been established so that offices might exist.” The Dictionary of the French Academy
accepted the word in its 1798 supplement and defined it as “power, influence of the heads and staff of
government bureaux.” But it was in the nineteenth century, under conditions of increasing state intervention,
that the term came into regular use among European writers. In England, it became current in the 1830s during
the resistance to the centralisation of poor relief and public health measures. To Thomas Carlyle, it was
‘continental nuisance’. An exhaustive treatment of the concept came in 1895 in Gaetano Mosca’s Element di
Scienza Politico, translated in 1939 as The Ruling Class, where the author regarded bureaucracy as being so
fundamental to the governing of great empires that all political systems could be classified as either feudal or
bureaucratic.
It was, however, Max Weber, (1864-1920) who founded the modern sociological study of bureaucracy freed
the term from its pejorative connotation, and emphasized its indispensability for the rational attainment of the
goals of an organization.
Max Weber, a distinguished scholar, was born in 1864 in Germany— in that part of it which was then in
Prussia, the land which perplexed and haunted him all his life. He passed away in June 1920—two years after
the end of the First Great War—at the early age of fifty-six. This was when he was about to enter the golden
phase of his career. Anyway, his reputation has grown steadily since his death; and his name today is much
more widely known than ever in his lifetime. Weber wrote in the German language, and his works were not
known to the English-speaking and English-knowing world. Under Nazi persecution several German scholars
fled from Hitler’s Germany and settled down in the USA. These immigrant scholars familiarized the world with
Weber’s writings but that happened after the end of the Second World War. In 1946 the Oxford University
Press published Gerth and Mills’ translation From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology and a year later followed
Henderson and Parsons’ translation, The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation. With the availability
of these works, Weber’s reputation as a scholar began to increase.
‘Why do people obey?’ is a question central to political philosophy. What, in other words, constitutes the
legitimacy of power? Power, by which is meant naked power or coercion, turns into authority when it gains
legitimacy. Legitimacy can be gained through three paths: the charismatic, the traditional, and the rational-legal.
The tern ‘charisma’ is used by Max Weber to connote the ability to lead and inspire by sheer force of
personality and conviction. A charismatic leader, therefore, is one who converts people to his message and
secures their obedience by persuasion without any coercion. But charisma as a legitimiser is not reliable. It is
not very long-enduring nor indefinitely extensible. The demands and compulsions of everyday life for order,
continuity and predictability cannot be reconciled with a constant eruption of divine inspiration. Charisma then
becomes routinised in ritual administration and discipline.
According to the traditional path, time makes good: men have always done things in such a way and obeyed
people who have got into office by a recognised quality of holiness or bravery. These are the forms of
traditional authority. There is wisdom in old things: old is gold, as many say.
The rational-legal path is based on reason. Reason, argues Weber, is science, reason is technical, reason is law
and these are the foundations of rational-legal authority. Rational-legal authority is supremely efficient for the
attainment of ends of organization. The form of organization based on rationality and legality is bureaucracy.
The defining characteristic of rational-legal domination (or authority) in the modern state is, for Max Weber,
bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is a particular form of administration: one which is rational, efficient and set within
a framework of legal authority. The notion of legal authority provides the ‘legitimising’ principle of the ideal
type. In addition, the framework consists of a system of basic rules that are fundamental to bureaucratic
rationality.
Karl Marx had taken the position that the state and its instrument, namely bureaucracy, constitute ‘parasitic’
entities, from which Max Weber totally disagreed. Weber also contested the view that state and bureaucracy
are a direct product of the activities of classes. Equally, he highlighted the similarities between private and
public administration, bureaucracy being the common feature of both.
Weber-enunciated his views on bureaucracy in his celebrated Wirtschaft and Gesellschaft, later translated and
published in English as Economy and Society. This book was published posthumously in 1921. It is a monumental
work covering three volumes, giving Weber’s explanation of the historic process of social change in society.
The work traces the evolution of Western civilization in terms of its developing rationality and the characteristics
distinguishing modem capitalist industrial society from earlier forms of social organization. Different stages of
social development take their colours from the predominant mode of authority in society, and this authority
establishes a belief in its own legitimacy. There are three major forms of authority associated with different
stages of social development. These are charisma, tradition, and rationality. The rational-legal authority is
bureaucracy.
To Karl Marx bureaucracy carried a narrower meaning: it meant only the civil service, which is the bureaucratic
apparatus of the state. But Weber applied the concept much more broadly: bureaucracy was applied to all
forms of large organisations, such as the civil service political parties, universities, and industrial enterprises.
In short he asserted that both private and public administration were becoming more and more bureaucratised.
The following are the eight attributes of bureaucracy according to Max Weber.
1. A continuous rule-bound conduct of official business.
2. A specified sphere of competence (jurisdiction).
3. The organization of offices follows the principle of hierarchy: that is, each lower office is under the control
and supervision of a higher one. There is a right of appeal and of statement of grievances from the lower
to the higher. Hierarchies differ in respect to whether and in what cases complaints can lead to a ‘correct’
ruling from a higher authority itself, or whether the responsibility for such changes is left to the lower
office, the conduct of which was the subject of the complaint.
4. The rules regulating the conduct of an office, can be technical rules or norms. In both cases, if their
application is to be fully rational, specialized training is necessary. It is thus normally true that only a
 person who has demonstrated an adequate technical training is qualified to be a member of the administrative
personnel of such an organized group, and hence only such persons are eligible for appointment to official
positions. The administrative personnel of a rational organisation thus typically consists of ‘officials’,
whether the organisation be devoted to political, hierocratic, economic—in particular, capitalistic—or other
ends.
5. In the rational type, it is a matter of principle that the members of the organization should be completely
separated from ownership of the means of production or administration. Officials do not themselves won
the non-human means of production and administration. These are rather provided for their use, in kind
or in money, and the official is obligated to render an accounting of their use. There exists, furthermore,
in principle, complete separation of the official. There is a corresponding separation of the place in which
official functions are carried out—the ‘office’ in the sense of premises—from the living quarters.
6. In the rational type, there is also a complete absence of appropriation of his official position by the
incumbent. Where ‘rights’ to an office exist as in the case of judges, and recently of an increasing
proportion of officials and even of workers, they do not normally serve the purpose of appropriation by
the official, but of securing the purely objective and independent character of the conduct of the office
so that it is orientated only to the relevant norms.
7. Administrative acts, decisions and rules are formulated and recorded in writing even in cases where oral
discussion is the rule or is even mandatory. This applies at least to preliminary discussions and proposals,
to final decisions, and to all sorts of orders and rules. The combination of written documents and a
continuous operation by officials constitutes the ‘office’ (bureau), which is the central focus of all types
of modern organised action.
8. Legal authority can be exercised in a wide variety of different forms. The following analysis of ideal-types
will be deliberately confined for the time being to the administrative personnel that is most unambiguously
a structure of domination: ‘officialdom’ or ‘bureaucracy’. The type of rational, legal organisation is capable
of application in all kinds of situations and contexts. It is the most important mechanism for the organisation
of everyday affairs. For in that sphere, the exercise of authority consists precisely in administration.
As society grows and economic life becomes more differentiated and complex, bureaucracy becomes all the
more essential. Weber believes in the inevitability of bureaucracy in a modern state. He says that the main
reason for the excellence of a bureaucratic organisation lies in its
…technical superiority over any other form of organization. Precision, speed, unambiguity, knowledge of the
files, continuity, discretion, unity, strict subordination, reduction of friction and of material and personal costs—
these are raised to the optimum point in the strictly bureaucratic administration, and especially in its monocratic
form.
What principles does Weber emphasise in these eight attributes?
One is the rule-bound nature of bureaucratic behaviour, the abstractness of the system of rules and the
impersonality of their operation. Another is the principle ofhierarchy complemented by the need for specialization
in order to operate the rule of the office. The principles of bureaucracy itself are set out below:
1. Specialization: Each office has a clearly defined sphere of competence in the legal sense.
2. Hierarchy: Members of the organization are organized into a clearly defined hierarchy of office.
3. Rules: He (the official) is subject to strict and systematic discipline and control in the conduct of the
office.
4. Impersonality: The official works entirely separated from the ownership of the means of administration
and without appropriation of his position.
5. Appointed officials: Candidates are selected on the basis of technical qualification. In the most rational
case this is tested by examination. They are appointed, not elected.
6. Full time officials: The office is treated as the sole, or at least the primary, occupation of the incumbent.
7. Career officials: The job constitutes a career. There is a system of promotion according to seniority or
to achievement, or both. Promotion is dependent on the judgement of superiors.
This type of organisation, Weber argues, is applicable to a wide variety of different fields and can be subject
to different forms of direction or leadership. Bureaucracy is a rule-bound organisation. Bureaucracy is symptomatic
of the rationalization of the modem world and is technically capable of attaining the highest degre of efficiency.
The legal basis of bureaucracy endows it with the attributes of calculability and predictability. Yet another
aspect of its superiority lies in the technical knowledge that it possesses. Knowledge implies power and it is
knowledge, or the control of knowledge, that is basic to bureaucracy as a system of domination. Max Weber
argues that bureaucratic organisation implies domination based on knowledge. It is this base which imparts its
rationality.
This consists on the one hand of technical knowledge, which by itself a sufficient to ensure it a position of
extraordinary power. But in addition to this bureaucratic organisations... have the tendency to increase their
power still further by the knowledge growing out of experience in the service.
This knowledge is continually reinforced by the concept of official secrets which prevails in the bureaucratic
organisation.
Bureaucracy is a power elite, and this it owes to its three assets; namely its expertise, information and access
to secrets. As Weber remarks, “This power can truly become ‘overlowering’, making all depend on the
bureaucracy.” How, then, to check the bureaucratic power was the central concern of Marx Weber. In the
absence of checks, public organisations could be captured by powerful private interests (e.g. organised capitalists,
land-holders), and the resultant weak bureaucratic leadership could be particularly fatal in times of national
emergency. Bureaucracy is superior in technical knowledge. But it does not have the training for the examination
of political role. According to Weber, the check on bureaucracy lay in a strong parliament, which could become
a competitive training ground for strong political leadership and thus act as a balance between public and
private bureaucracy.
The relationship between the political master and the official is one of the dilettante versus the expert:
…It must also remain an open question whether the power of bureaucracy is increasing in the modern states
in which it is spreading. The fact that bureaucratic organization is technically the most highly developed power
instrument in the hands of its controller does not determine the weight that bureaucracy as such is capable of
procuring for its own opinions in a particular social structure. The ever-increasing ‘indispensability’ of the
officialdom, swollen to the millions, is no more decisive on this point than is the economic indispensability of
the proleterians for the strength of the social and political power position of that class (a view which some
representatives of the proletarian movement hold). Whether the power of bureaucracy as such increases cannot
be decided a priori from such reasons. The drawing in of such interest groups or other non-official experts; or
the drawing in of lay representatives, the establishment of local, inter-local or central parliamentary or other
representative bodies, or of occupational associations—these seem to run directly against the bureaucratic
tendency. How far this appearance is the truth must be discussed in another chapter, logical discussion.
In general, only the following can be said here:
The power position of a fully developed bureaucracy is always great, under normal conditions overtowering.
The political ‘master’ always finds himself vis-à-vis the trained official, in the position of a dilettante facing
the expert. This holds whether the ‘master’, whom the bureaucracy serves, is the ‘people’ equipped with the
weapons of legislative initiative, referendum and the right to remove officials; or a parliament elected on a more
aristocratic or more democratic basis and equipped with the right of the de facto power to vote lack of
confidence; or an aristocratic collegiate body, legally or actually based on self-recruitment; or a popularly elected
president or an ‘absolute’ or ‘constitutional’ hereditary monarch.
The superiority of the professional insider every bureaucracy seeks further to increase through the means of
keeping secret its knowledge and intentions. Bureaucratic administration always tends to exclude the public,
to hide its knowledge and action from criticism as well as it can… This tendency toward secrecy is in certain
administrative fields a consequence of their objective nature: namely, wherever power interests of the given
structure of domination toward the outside are at stake, whether this be the case of economic competitors of
a private enterprise or that of potentially hostile foreign polities in the public field… With the increasing
bureaucratisation of party organisation, this secrecy will prevail even more. Foreign trade policy, in Germany
for instance, brings about a concealment of production statistics. Every fighting posture of a social structure
toward the outside tends in itself to have the effect of buttressing the position of the group in power.
However, the pure power interests of bureaucracy exert their efforts far beyond these areas of functionally
motivated secrecy. The concept of the ‘office secret’ is the specific invention of bureaucracy and few things
it defends so fanatically as this attitude which, outside of the specific areas mentioned, cannot be justified with
purely, functional arguments. In facing a parliament, the bureacracy fights, out of a sure power instinct, every
one of that institution’s attempts to gain through its own, means (as for example through the so-called ‘right
of parliamentary investigation’) expert knowledge from the interested parties. Bureaucracy naturally prefers a
poorly informed, and hence powerless, parliament—at least in so far as this ignorance is compatible with the
bureaucracy’s own interests.
Bureaucracy as enunciated by Max Weber is based on the notion of rational-legal authority—that is, an
authority which employees recognised as legitimate being inherent in the administrators in the hierarchical
structure. Included in the rational-legal authority, are written rules and procedures and their primacy. Each
position in the bureaucracy has its duties and rights which are all clearly defined: rules and procedures have been
laid down to determine how the given authority is to be exercised. Bureaucracy promises a stable organisation,
despite the fact that its incumbents come and go. Its functioning does not necessarily depend on the know-how
of individuals working in it. Know-how is instead embodied in rules, regulations, procedures and other written
records which always remain within the organization in contrast to individuals who could join and leave. Other
attributes of bureaucracy are the hierarchy, division of labour, functional specialization, etc.
At the hands of Weber, bureaucracy emerged as neutral, hierarchically organized, efficient and inevitable in
contemporary society. This was the ‘ideal type’ bureaucracy. In fact the ideal type is never actualized. The
characteristics of bureaucracy were: precision, discipline, strictness, reliability. These characteristics made it
technically the most efficient form of organization. Max Weber has defined bureaucracy in terms of its
structural characteristics. The above-mentioned attributes portray a kind of exercised by administrators only
by virtue of the office they hold, and what is more, in accordance with the clearly defined rules and regulations.
In other words, bureaucracy emerges as uniquely impersonal, neutral, passive and instrumental. Its behavioural
characteristics are objectivity, precision and consistency.
Bureaucracy is, thus, defined in terms of an organisation’s basic structural characteristics. These include: (1) a
well-defined hierarchy of authority, (2) a division of labour based on functional specialization, (3) a system of
rules covering the rights and duties of incumbents of various positions in the organization, (4) a system of
procedures for dealing with work, (5) impersonality of interpersonal relationships, and (6) selection for
employment and promotion based on technical competence. This list can serve very well as a summary of the
most commonly mentioned structural earmarks of bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy includes certain negative behavioural traits also. Subsequent sociologists have taken Weber’s concept
as a starting point, but have not been content to be limited by his definition. In particular, on stream of writing
has emphasized that Weber’s ideal type of bureaucracy entails the features responsible for the connotations of
inefficiency that the term itself so frequently possesses. These are dysfunction and pathological delay and even
hindrance of the attainment of organisational goals. Robert Merton has made a classic statement of this point
of view. He is concerned with the fact that “the very elements which conduce toward efficiency in general
produce inefficiency in specific instances”, and “also lead to an over-concern with strict adherence to regulations
which induces timidity, conservatism, and technicism”. Stress on “depersonalisation of relationships’ leads to
conflict in relations with bureaucratic clientele. Specific behavioural orientations often mentioned are buck
passing, red tape, rigidity and inflexibility excessive impersonality; over-secretiveness, unwillingness to delegate,
and reluctance to exercise discretion. Behaviour of this sort is typical of the ‘trained incapacity’ of the
bureaucrat. The implication is that behaviour which is most typically bureaucratic is behaviour emerging from
overemphasis on the rationality of bureaucratic organisation and dysfunctional in its effects, suggesting a model
for bureaucratic behaviour which would stress these contradictory or self-defeating traits. This continues to be
a common orientation. Morstein Marx talks of such traits as ‘ilment of orgamsatoin’ explained by the fact that
“the bureaucratic type of organisation gives rise to certain tendencies that pervert its purpose. Some of its
strength—and in extreme cases all of it is drained off constantly by vices that paradoxically spring from
virtues.” Michel Crazier described his valuable study, The Bureaucratic Phenomenon, as a scientific attempt
to understand better this ‘malady of bureaucracy’. He explains that the subject to which he refers in speaking
of The Bureaucratic Phenomenon is that of the maladaptation, the inadequacies, or, to use Merton’s expression,
the ‘dysfunctions’, which necessarily develop within human organisation.
The identification of bureaucracy with a type of organisation rather than with administrative bureaucracy to
denote the whole state system. There is further a growing popular usage which equates bureaucracy with large
organisations, undoubtedly reflecting the fact that delegated authority, written regulations, and career positions
now pervade all organisations. T. Parsons follows this use, “One of the most salient structural characteristics
of... (the modern western type of)…society is the prominence in it of relatively large-scale organizations with
specialized functions, what rather loosely tend to be called ‘bureaucracies’.” However, P.M. Blau and W.R.
Scott try to preserve a more restricted meaning for bureaucracy: “the term is used naturally to refer to the
administrative aspects of organizations.”
Rapid changes in organizations in the last century have caused these shifts in the meaning of bureaucracy, and
while the term retains it usefulness in indicating a broad set of related problems it can only be used precisely;
if considerable attention is paid to definition. Moreover, today, bureaucracy is a power group, and as such it
is a distinctly separate group within a state—with its own special interests, values and power basis. It separate
interests lie in the maintenance and extension of administrative positions and power; its distinctive outlook lies
in a belief in its own superior objectivity in interpreting the national interests free from party bias; its power
lies in its knowledge and experience and in the cloak of secrecy with which it conceals its operations.
Bureaucracy, to recall, is a hierarchy of technical experts; in it is worker is fitted, in every detail, to the machine.
Weber was convinced about the inevitability of bureaucracy in modern society. The onward march of bureaucracy
is inescapable—not only in the state, but in all walks of life. So essential bureaucracy is to a modern society
that it requires a counter-bureaucracy to fight bureaucracy. Where bureaucracy does not function consistently,
chaos is the consequence. Its members are recruited on the basis of expert knowledge. They pick up specialised
knowledge and experience while engaged on the job. All this gives them a mastery over the subject matter—
at least as compared to the rest in society. This knowledge, moreover, remains shielded from the outside world
by the secrecy they assiduously practise in administration. Thus, no one may apparently surpass them in the
matter of knowledge of the specific subjects.
Surprising though it may sound, Weber never defined the term ‘bureaucracy’. Indeed, he did not even consider
it s a term to be regarded as part of the language of social science. But he was most meticulous in specifying
the features of what he called the ideal type of bureaucracy. Weber talked about ‘patrimonial’ bureaucracy,
which is different from the rational type. Patrimonial bureaucracy depended upon unfree officials whereas the
rational type comprises contractually appointed men. The Roman Empire, ancient Egypt and the Byzantine
Empire provide the examples of patrimonial bureaucracy. The temp ‘bureaucracy’, further is employed by him
both loosely and precisely.
Max Weber traced the rise of bureaucracy in the world. Bureaucracy sees the light of day only at a certain
stage in the evolution of economic development. Subsistence economy is incapable of giving birth to
‘bureaucracy’. The appointed officials have to be suitably compensated which means that the economy must
be in a position to produce surpluses from which appointed officials can be compensated. In other words, a
developed money economy is a prerequisite to the birth of bureaucracy. Peter M. Blau, the author of Bureaucracy
in Modern Society, differs on this point and does not quite regard money economy as an absolute prerequisite.
One of the historical conditions that favours the development of bureaucracy is a money economy. This is not
a absolute prerequisite. Bureaucracy based on compensation in kind existed, for example, in Egypt, Rome and
China. Generally, however, a money economy permits the payment of regular salaries, which, in turn, creates
the combination of dependence and independence that is most conducive to the faithful performance of
bureaucratic duties. Unpaid volunteers are too independent of the organisation to submit unfailingly to its
discipline. Slaves, on the other hand, arc too dependent on their master to have the initiative to assume
responsibilities and carry them out on their own initiative. The economic dependence of the salaried employee
on his job and his freedom to advance himself in his career, engender the orientation towards work required
for disciplined and responsible conduct. Consequently, there were few bureaucracies prior to the development
of a monetary system and the abolition of slavery. As the State was assuming more and more functions, public
revenue needed to generated, which led to the emergence of public finance. In the words of Max Weber:
“A stable system of taxation is the pre-condition for the permanent existence of bureaucratic organisation.”
With economic development, organisations began to increase in size and this size itself encouraged the
development of bureaucracy. The larger modern state is more likely to see the advent of bureaucracy and is
thus more favourably placed. Problems also became progressively more complex. Thus in ancient Egypt, the
complex task of constructing and regulating water ways throughout the country led to the emergence of a large-
scale bureaucracy in the country. Nations with long frontiers require a large standing army, necessitating
taxation to support it. England, without land frontiers, to give an example, needed a small army in the earlier
centuries. This partly accounts for the later emergence of bureaucracy there than in European states which had
to support large armies. On deeper analysis it may be seen that large armies are possible only with the adoption
of bureaucratic methods of operation.
With economic development emerged new classes, the most prominent being the middle class. This class
clamoured for more and more social and economic benefits, which only democracy could secure. Bureaucracy,
naturally, follows democracy. Bureaucracy claims the attributes of equality before law and regularity of
administrative action, which are the bases of the democratic from of government.
Capitalism on its part also has furthered the advance of bureaucracy. The rational calculation of economic risks
intrinsic to capitalism require stability and predictability of action and behaviour with no disturbance of
external forces. Arbitrary actions of tyrants interfere with rational calculation of risks. Capitalism thus demands
firm maintenance of order and stability, which can be assured only by a career bureaucracy. In other words,
capitalism and bureaucracy are mutually reinforcing; they bolster each other. Capitalism promotes effective and
extensive government, and is a euphemism for bureaucracy.

In his seminal work. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber argues that movement to
capitalism was caused by the attitudes and beliefs fostered by Protestantism, specially Calvinism and Puritanism.
Protestantism laid stress on this-wordly asceticism, which means disciplined hard work in the pursuit of one’s
vocation. Consequences are easy to assess. Hard work provided surpluses which were not consumed as provided
surpluses which were not consumed as Protestants were irrevocably committed to self-imposed asceticism.
The surplus consequently was further invested as they had already taken the vow to deny themselves the
pleasures of the flesh. The successive reinvestments of the fruits of labour of the ascetically oriented persons
inevitably gave rise to capitalism. The psychological orientation created by Protestantism, thus, “revolutionized
the secular world”, as Peter M. Blau asserts. Without this orientation towards ceaseless effort and rational
conduct as intrinsic moral values, Weber argues convincingly, capitalism could not have come into existence,
and neither, it should be added, could full-blown bureaucracy have developed, because it too depends on
rational discipline. Susan Fainstein and Norman Fainstein reconfirm this point, when they observe that “massive
state bureaucracies arise in response to capitalist needs for nominally depoliticized structures to administer the
common interests of the class as a whole.” In parentheses it may be noted that on the advent of capitalism,
Weber adopted an approach diametrically opposed to that of Karl Marx, whose main preoccupation undoubtedly
was Capitalism (note the title of his work The Capital). It is a universally known view that Max Weber’s is
a standing refutation of the Marxian theory of materialist conception of history. Thus viewed, Max Weber,
it is said, was having a dialogue with the ghost of Karl Marx.
David Beetham, Professor of Politics at Leeds University, and a leading exponent of Weber’s political theory,
dwells on three different aspects of his concept of bureaucracy. First, Weber holds that bureaucracy is a
technically efficient instrument of administration, indeed, “technically the most perfectly adapted for achieving
the highest level of performance.” In other words, Weber insists that bureaucracy is only a technical instrument,
and nothing more. The second aspect of Weber’s theory is that bureaucracy has an inherent tendency to exceed
its instrumental function and emerge as a separate force within society, capable of influencing the goals and
character of that society. Bureaucracy constitutes a separate power group within the state, a separate status
segment within society at large. This second aspect, according to Weber, constitutes, no doubt, an aberration:
bureaucracy usurps the goal-setting function, which properly belongs to the politician. Goal-setting function,
which properly belonds to the politician. Goal-setting not only belongs to the realm of politics and the
politician, but bureaucracy is by training unsuited for performing this role. The third aspect of Weber’s theory
of bureaucracy is that it reflects the class structure of the society. Bureaucracy is unable to free itself from the
outlook of the social classes from which it is recruited and to which it is allied. That bureaucracy has a narrow
social base, which inevitably injects and imbalance in its thinking, has led to the demand for representative
democracy, Bureaucracy, as David Beetham rightly observes, has an inherent tendency to exceed its administrative
function: the official does not act entirely sine ina at studio, but this outlook is affected by the pre-suppositions
of the social class. These deviations from the ‘ideal type’ are not accidental, but systematic. Bureaucracy is
not merely a technical instrument; it is also a social force with interests and values of its own, and as such
has social consequences over and above its instrumental achievements. As a power group, it has the capacity
to influence the goals of the political system: as a status stratum it has a more unconscious effect upon the
values of society at large. At the same time it is not independent of other social forces, particularly that of
class. These are the chief features of Weber’s account of bureaucratic operation in practice, and they constitute
an important qualification of his ‘ideal type’.
 Beyond Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy as enunciated by Max Weber is of late under severe criticism and is thus becoming growingly
unacceptable even though the administrative systems of practically all countries are still based on his model.
In countries like India, the public bureaucracy gets continual reinforcement from society, which itself is stratified
by factors like caste. In Western industrialized nations, the rigidity of bureaucracy is contained by the vibrancy
of social democracy.

The bureaucratic model of Weber has been widely perceived as terminal. However, mankind has entered a
phase of history characterized by turbulence, uncertainty and change. The environment within which it discovers
itself today is unstable and unpredictable. Mind-boggling advances being made in science and technology call
for new response systems plainly beyond the scope and capacity of traditional Weberian bureaucracy. With fast
growing interdependence among nations, the world is rapidly turning into a global village. Environmental
deterioration is posing a threat to the very survival of mankind. Society is ridden with various forms of violence
including terrorism, which pose a serious threat to its own survival and that of the state. All these pose
problems and throw up challenges, with which Weber’s machine model of bureaucracy is unable to cope.
Warren Bennis rightly says, “it is the requirement of adaptability to the environment which leads to the
predicted demise of bureaucracy and to the collapse of management as we know it now.”
New challenges call for new qualities: the Weberian model with its characteristics of hierarchy is unfit to
motivate workers and provide leadership. The new kinds of organization should be ‘organic-adaptive’ structure,
as Warren Bennis calls them and should have the following major characteristics:
1. The new organization should be a temporary one, created around particular problems to be solved. The
whole network of activity is organized around a problem. This is a matrix organization designed to disband
when no longer needed. Alvin Toffler calls such an organization a ‘adhocracy’.
2. Hierarchy, an inherent ingredient of Weberian bureaucracy, is to be replaced by differentiation on the basis
of flexible criteria related to skill and professional training.
3. Organisation of the future would be structures which allow for creativity and for freedom from the evils
of hierarchy. Larry B. Hill contends that these organizations will be increasingly based on a networking
style of management which projects horizontal rather than vertical or hierarchical linkage. Organisations
of the future will be based more on bottom-up authority relationships and depend more and more on
computers and the information society. Organisations of the future will pay a great deal of attention to
the ‘humanside of management’ , emphasizing non-economic motivation, worker participation, quality
circles and Type Z managerial styles, borrowed from Japan.” Hill predicts: “If this vision of the post-
bureaucratic future is not idyllic, it is generally optimistic.”
Administration, today, is in a stage of fast change, the present being a turbulent age. New buzz works and
themes are surfacing themselves challenging the traditional views and paradigms. There is a growing belief that
the days of bureaucracy are over, and organizations have entered the post bureaucratic age. Administrators
should be in the nature of managers who are ‘change masters’ proficient in handling innovations at every level.
Emphasis is placed on self-managing teams which are to be the basic organizational building block as Paul
Thompson and David McHugh write in Work Organisation A Critical Organisation (1995): ‘The language (of
post-bureaucratic organisations) is dominated by Fs-Fast, fat and flexible organizations; and Ds: decentralization,
desegregation, disorganization and delayering. They concloude. It adds upto a widely-held belief that the days
of bureaucracy are over’.
It is contended that the bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic organization exhibit the following traits:
Traits of organization

Bureaucratic Post-Bureaucratic

1. Stability Disorganization

2. Rationality Cherisma and values

3. Planning Spontaneity

4. Command Empowernment

Command Participation
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Foundation 2020
– Ashutosh Pandey

PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 7

Administrative Law
 ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
Administrative law is the bye-product of the growing socio-economic functions of the State and the increased
powers of the government. In modern times State has undertaken multifarious functions which traditionally did
not fall within the areas of its operation. Besides the functions relating to the maintenance of law and order,
administration of justice and protection of its people from aggression, the States have taken over the various
schemes of development planning and welfare affecting every wall of human life. In this process enonnous
powers had to be conferred on the government without which the objectives of we] fare State could have not
been achieved. There were other factors also responsible for this kind of situation e.g., ownership and operation
of industries and business by the government; vast increase in the administrative regulations of privately owned
business, etc. in these circumstances, occasions of direct contact and confrontations between the ordinary
citizens and the administration become quite natural and frequent. Administrative law devises means to prevent
the administration from degenerating into arbitrariness and unfairness. It evolves the principles by which
various instrumentalities of the government are kept within the limits of their power. Accordingly, administrative
law emerged as the most significant branch of public law laying emphasis upon the need of formulating a
comprehensive control-mechanism for the myriad governmental powers.

Meaning of Administrative Law

The term “Administrative Law” has three possible meanings. It may mean-
The rules of law promulgated by an Executive Department with the consent and by the authority of the
Central legislation. In this sense Administrative law is nothing more than a form of delegated legislation,
framed by a subordinate law making body. Recently, in consequence of vast increase of legislative activity in
all States, due to changing social conditions, this type of subordinate or delegated legislation has increased
greatly in bulk and scope. Moreover, legislations and specially Parliament of India, have shown—a disposition
to confer very wide powers of law making upon different departments of State.
Administrative law may also mean that part of public law which describes the nature of the activity of the
Executive Department of the government in action. In this sense, it may also be termed the law relating to
public administration. It deals with the organs of Government in their relations with the subject, whereas
constitutional law deals with the same organs from the standpoint of structure, and of their relations with one
another. Thus administrative law in this sense would deal with the relations of Central to local Government,
and with the promotion of the welfare of the citizen of a State.
Administrative law may denote that portion of nation’s legal system which determines the legal status and
liabilities of all State officials which defines the rights and liabilities of private individuals in their dealings with
public officials and which specifies the procedure by which those rights and liabilities are enforced. When the
term is used in this sense, it is customary to retain the French designation of droit administratif. Partly because
the system and partly because the French term expresses a good deal more than “Administrative Law”.
It implies the French acceptance of the doctrine of the separation of powers and the difference in nature
between disputes of officials and private citizens.
For the present purpose Administrative Law may be taken to the law governing organization, procedures powers
and duties of the organs of public authorities other than the legislature and courts. It studies the law made by,
as well as the law which controls administration.
Definition of Administrative Law
Various attempts have been made to define administrative law, its nature, scope and content, but none is right
or wrong in absolute sense. Some definitions are too broad whereas some are too narrow. The definitions
attempted by different authors reflect the constitutional ideologies of their own times. Constitutional dogmas
of different ages influenced the different stages of development of administrative law, rendering some of its
definitions quite broad and some quite narrow.
Dicey in 19th century defines it as-
Firstly portion of a nation’s legal system which determine the legal status and liabilities of all State officials.
Secondly, defines the right and liabilities of private individuals in their dealings with public officials.
Thirdly, specifies the procedure by which those rights and liabilities are enforced.
This definition suffers from certain imperfections. It does not cover several aspects of administrative law, eg.,
it excludes the study of several administrative authorities such as public corporations which are not included
within the expression “State officials”, it excludes the study of various powers and functions of administrative
authorities and their control. His definition is mainly concerned with one aspect of administrative law, namely,
judicial control of public officials.
Jennings says:
“Administrative law is the law relating to the administration. It determines the organisation, powers and duties
of administrative authorities.”
This definition has been accepted by several English scholars. Schwarz approves of this definition and says:
“Jennings’ approach is broad enough to cover all of the matters dealt with in a French treatise like that of
Waline. Thus, it includes within its scope matters, such,, as administrative organisation and the law of the civil
service which are, in traditional Anglo-American theory for the students of public administration not the
administrative lawyer.”
Jennings’ definition may be said to have been improved upon by K.C Davis who puts it as follows:
“Administrative law is the late concerning the powers and procedures of administrative agencies including
especially the law governing judicial review of administrative action. An administrative agency is an organ of
Government, other than a court and other than a legislature which affects the rights of private parties through
either adjudication of rule-making. Administrative law consists of constitutional law, statutory law, common
and agency-made law the great bulk of it is created by courts in the process of constitutional and statutory
interpretation. Administrative law, as the term is used here, is limited to law concerning powers and procedure;
it does not include the enormous mass of substantive law produced by the agencies…”
This definition does not include the enormous mass of substantive laws produced by the agencies.
An administrative agency, according to him, is governmental authority, other than a court and other than a
legislative body, which affects the rights of private parties either through adjudication or rule-making. Jennings’
definition, however, falls short of Davis’ definition in one respect. While Davis lays emphasis on procedure
used by administrative agencies in exercising their powers, Jennings does not mention procedure directly and
specifically———he only leaves it to be implied from such broad words as “organisation; powers and duties”
and thus appears to constitute a basic difference between the present day American view and the English
approach to the administrative law. The English administrative law does not lay so much emphasis on procedure
to be followed by the administrative bodies as does the American administrative law where this branch of law
is often designated as “administrative process.”
Professor Wade remarks that:

“Administrative law is concerned with the operation and control of the powers of administrative authorities
with emphasis on functions rather than on structure.”
According to him, since administrative law deals with the exercise of government powers, it is itself a part of
the constitutional law. The essence of administrative law lies in judge-made doctrines which apply right across
the board and which therefore set legal standard of conduct for public authorities generally. Professor Hart says,
“Broadly conceived, administrative law includes law that is made by as well as the law that controls the
administrative authorities of a government.” Both these definitions have ignored certain aspects of the subject
which strictly fall within the scope of administrative law of today. But it is true that law in modern times I
primarily concerned with different mechanism of control over the multifarious powers of administrative
authorities rather than their structure.
According to Prof. Griffith and Street, administrative law is concerned with three questions:
• What sort of powers does the administration exercise?
• What are the limits of those powers?
• What are the ways in which the administration is kept within those limits?
But according to the Indian Law Institute the following two questions must be added to have a complete
idea of present administrative law—
• What are the procedures followed by administrative authorities?
• What are the remedies available to a person affected by administration?
Broadly, administrative law deals with composition and powers of different organs of administration, the limits
of their powers; the procedure which the administrative authorities adopt in the exercise of their powers and
the various modes of control including particularly judicial control-over-the different kinds of powers exercised
by them. Precisely it deals with the quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial powers of the administrative authorities
as also their executive powers and their control.
It is true that there is greater emphasis upon the study of various modes of judicial control of administrative
action in the present administrative law, but since the dimensions of such action have expanded during past
few decades it has been realized that judicial control alone could not provided adequate satisfaction to the
people. Hence the search for extra-judicial modes of control also became the important task of administrative
law.

Natural and scope of administrative law

In the words of Freund, “The main problem of administrative law relates to the nature and operation of official
powers (permit and orders, ministerial and discretionary, scope and legitimacy of underlying conditions) the
formal procedural conditions for the exercise of powers, official and communal liability, the specific remedies
for the judicial control of administrative action (legal, equitable and statutory) jurisdictional limitations of
powers and questions of administrative finality.”
Thus administrative law can precisely be said to be a study of multifarious powers of administrative authorities
and their control. The nature of power exercisable by the administrative authorities can be studied under the
following heads:
• Legislative or Rule-making.
• Judicial or Adjudicative.
• Purely Executive.
Administrative law is mainly concerned with the control over the exercise of the above powers by the
administrative authorities. Professor Wade has rightly stated:
“The organisation, the methods, the powers (whether styled administrative, legislative or judicial) and the
control by judicial authority of all public authorities is the ambit of administrative law in U.K.”
He further says: “As a second approximation in a definition, administrative law may be said to be a body of
general principles which govern the exercise of powers and duties by public authorities. This is only one part
of the mass of laws to which public authorities are subject. All the detailed law about their composition and
structure though in a sense related to administrative law lies beyond and proper scope of the subject.”
In this connection Prof. K.C. Davis writes; “Administrative law, as the term is used, is limited to law, concerning
powers, product procedure of administrative agencies, including especially the law governing judicial review of
administrative action. It does not include the enormous mass of substantive law produced by the agencies,
much of which is beyond the understanding of lawyers as such. Administrative law is restricted to some
activities of agencies having powers of adjudication or rule-making. It includes judicial review of executive or
administrative action not involving either adjudication or rule-making.”
The scope of administrative law in our country is very much similar to that in the United States. In fact the
problems before us is to prevent the potential threat to justice and encroachment on our freedom administrative
law comprehensively deal with the ways and mean to keep the multifarious powers of administrative authorities
under control. It intends to prevent the growth of an autocratic rule by administrative authorities. It provides
for the safeguards against what Lord Hewart has described as “new Despotism”.
Prof. Griffith and Street have rightly pointed out in this connection that the operation and control of administrative
authorities being the chief purpose of administrative law, it deals with the following enquiries:
• What sort of powers does the administration exercise?
• What procedures do administrative authorities follow in the exercise of the powers of the administration?
• What are the limits on the powers of the administration?
• What are the ways in which the administration is kept within those limitations? And
• What remedies are available to the individuals against the illegal actions of the administration?
Thus administrative law is primarily concerned with the judicial control of administrative powers. The rules of
judicial control are generally derived form some basic principles of constitutional law, rule of law and the
principles of natural justice. The administrative authorities are supposed to act within the limit of their powers
given to them by the Acts and Statutes. Where they are armed with discretionary powers, decisions are to be
made by them in the public interest. Secondly, discretion must as far as possible be regulated so that it may
not be abused. Administrative law, besides, covers the study of ordinary remedies as well as prerogative
remedies through writs as also through statutory remedies against every administrative action. Government is
legally liable for wrongs committeed by their servants or agent. Recent decisions have enlarged the areas of
government liability in tort.
So for the province of administrative law is concerned, it embraces:
• The existence of various administrative bodies, such as, Wage Board, Central Board of Revenue, Commission
of Enquiry and advisory boards, tariff commission, etc. their organization and powers.
• Rule-making power of administrative agencies, i.e., delegated legislation; safeguards against abuse of power
by judicial control.
• Judicial functions of administrative agencies like administrative Tribunals.
• Remedies-writs, injunction. Etc.
• Procedural guarantees, i.e..rules of natural justice.
• Government liability in tort and contract.
• Public corporations.
Administrative law–its important, growth, functions and development–Mr. Justice Stone (later Chief Justice),
in his essay, “The Common law in the United States, wrote to say–
“Perhaps the most striking change in the common law of this country, certainly in recent times, has been the
rise of a system of administrative law”. In 1916 the President of the American Bar Association remarket ‘we
are entering upon the creation of a body of administrative law quite different in its machinery, it remedies, and
its safeguards form the old methods of regulation by specific statutes enforced by the Courts….we shall expand
them whether we approve theoretically or not, because such administrative agencies furnish protection to rights
and obstacles to wrongdoings which under our new social and industrial conditions cannot be practically
accomplished by the old and simple procedure of legislatures and Courts in the last generation.”
In fact the concept of State underwent a change with the dawn of twentieth century. The States besides their
traditional functions have also assumed the responsibility of extending every help to its people for the multifold
development of their personality. A number of welfare schemes have been undertaken by the States in this
respect which could be implemented only by the execution branch of the government as its consists of
competent, skilled and ever standing band of administrative authorities. The Constitution of India also embodied
the changed role of the State and conceived a welfare government in its preamble-and-directive principles.
This changed phenomenon has resulted in unexpected rise in the powers of the administration, which warranted
extensive control over their exercise in order to prevent them from being degenerated. Administrative law
devises such modes of control at length. Hence its scope, functions and importance have increased in modern
times.
Causes for the growth
The factors which led to the growth of administrative law and its rising importance can be studied under the
following heads:
• Emphasis on public welfare activities of the State–A political philosophy born and nurtured in the midst
of the conflagration of two world wars and influenced by remarkable technological and scientific progress
has thrust upon the modem democratic State a role of active participant in the implementation of welfare
schemes besides a role of watch-dog or police State.
State has entered into almost every sphere of individual as well as corporate life of society. The growing social
consciousness of the age, the increasing complexities of modem administration and an incredible rise in the
tempo of life caused by the manifold application of science and technology are, responsible for the growth and
development of administrative law, administrative technique and the administrative process.
During the last hundred years, the concept of State and its functions has undergone a change. The emphasis
on paternal form of government has shifted to maternal form of government. Besides confining itself to
defence, public order and enforcement of criminal law and few other general matters, the modern States hae
assumed the role of social welfare State. It has undertaken the elaborate task of social services and public
utilities. The 18th century individualism has gone. The doctrine of ‘laissez faire’ emphasised by Locke no
longer remains the governing principle of modern State. The doctrine has given place to the concept of a
welfare State and this has led to the proliferation of administrative powers and functions. The growth in the
range of activities of the State has thus ushered in an era of administrative law.
• Industrialisation and Urbanisation in modern times— Heavy industrialization, concentration of large
sections of population in overcrowded cities create problems of housing, disease, smoke insecurity of life
that could not be ignored. The administration had to intervene in the interests of public safety and health.
The multifarious activities of the state extended to every social problem of man such as, health, education,
employment, old age pension, production, control and distribution of essential commodities and other
operations of public utilities. This brought a change in the role of administration.
In order to fulfil the above objectives, the administration has to be armed with legislative as well judicial
powers. The legislative powers were delegated to the administration because for legislature it was practically
impossible to work out details of every legislation with aptitude.
It could only afford to lay down broad policies, while entrusting upon the executive the power to work
out its details by making rules, regulations, orders, ordinances and directions as it may deem necessary.
It required trained personnel, which could be found only in the executive branch of the government to
implement them efficiently.
• Administrative interference in the public life and consequential apprehensions- The increased powers of
administrative authorities warranted an effective control over their exercise. Too much power has in-built
seeds of corruption, misuse or abuse of powers it leads to negation of the rights of the people, rule of
law and democracy. Here comes in the importance of administrative law. Administrative law attempts to
devise all the possible modes of control for providing adequate safeguards against the misuse of their
powers. To put it differently, the function of administrative law is the legitimatisation of due powers, and
illegitimatisation of undue powers. “Due” here means that the powers, are properly controlled and regulated
by substantive norms and standards adequate procedural safeguards exercised and supervised by properly
constituted instrumentalities. Hence it has assumed an unprecedented importance in modem times.
• Scientific and technological developments and resultant problems—scientific and technological
developments have resulted in the creation of new problems like urbanization, environmental pollution,
heavy transportation and traffic, automation and consequential effects on the problem of employment.
Modernization of the present society has given rise to new types of social and economic offences like
concentration of wealth, adulteration, smuggling, tax evasion, labour problems and unhealthy commercial
practices. All these problems necessitated a number of laws to be enacted and the powers of administrative
authorities to be increased for their proper solution. In the process of fulfilling the need of great number
of laws providing for a superstructure administrative power, administrative law emerged as a subject of
momentous significance. The objective of achieving a welfare State, the need for providing a cheap
remedial justice in the matters of technical disputes, and the need for the regulation of administrative
powers have attributed to the growth of administrative law in modern times.
• Speedy and simpler modes of adjudication- There has been tremendous increase in the litigations against
the State on account of its extensive interference with public life and activities. Many a time the nature
 of dispute is technical and requires speedy disposal, e.g., matters relating to industries, labour, income-tax
and other taxes, customs and excise, services and compensation. In order to resolve disputes in these areas
the establishment of administrative tribunal became essential. In this process-adjudicatory powers have
also been transferred to the administrative law emphasises upon the exercise of such powers in accordance
with law and, therefore, it has emerged as one of the most significant branches of public law.
• Decentralisation of economic resources and to ensure economic and social justice-The concept of
welfare State intends to promote the welfare of people by securing and protecting as effectively as its may,
a social order in which justice–social, economic and political shall inform all the institutions of national
life. In order to secure economic justice the state shall take necessary steps (a) to distribute the ownership
and control of material resources of the community to the common good; to ensure that the economic
system does not result in concentration of wealth and means of production is not for the common
detriment; (c) to protect the health of workers and weaker section of society. The Government can also
acquire private land for public purposes such as for developing shopping complexes, parks, roads, playgrounds
etc.
The State is required to make provisions for securing just and human conditions of work and living wages.
All these factors have caused enormous growth in the powers of administrative authorities, since the responsibility
to carry out the above objectives could be thrust upon none else than the executive branch of the government.
This kind of situation increased the possibilities of the abuse of power also and administrative law has been
developed to eliminate such possibilities. Hence it has become one of the most outstanding developments of
modem times.
Mr. Ramaswami has rightly traced the reasons for the growth of administrative powers in the present century.
He observed:
“The administrative authority interferes in all domains of social and economic life, in the fields of industry,
commerce, education, transport, banking, insurance and so on. From the constitutional stand-point, there is a
large-scale delegation of legislative and judicial powers to administrative agencies. Without such delegation, the
working of the administration cannot be efficient or prompt. In administration there is obvious need for
individual action. There is call for speedy determination, there is necessity for direction, guidance and expert
advice. A large measure of freedom is, therefore, conferred on government officials for carrying out administrative
schemes. Unless there is a rule of law, there is the danger that administration would become totalitarian.”
Thus the growth of administrative law can be ascribed to the tremendous increase in the power of administration
and the necessity to give effect to rule of law in administrative process. The law Commission of India in its
XIVth Report has very correctly portrayed the reasons for the growth of administrative law in the following
words:
“Society in the 20th century has become exceedingly complex and governmental functions have multiplied.
The change in the scope and character of the government from negative to positive, that is, from the laissez
faire to the public service state, has resulted in the concentration of considerable power in the hands of the
executive branch of the administrative law.
The expansion of the State activity resulted in the corresponding increase of the powers of the executive with
added emphasis upon their discretionary powers, which by experience has been found to have a tendency
towards arbitrariness and corruption. Administrative law has been developed to regulate the exercise of
discretionary powers, to prevent its degeneration and to provide safeguards against arbitrary and illegal actions
of the administration. In every democratic country the protection of civil rights and liberties and inevitable
growth of the powers of the administration under the garb of socialization of society have to be reconciled.
Administrative law has emerged as the ‘outstanding legal development of the twentieth century”.
In India administrative law has got a special significance. The country does not have deep roots of democracy,
hence bureaucracy may have a tendency to override the rights of people. If exercised properly, the vast power
of administration may lead to the welfare of State; but, if abused, they may lead to administrative despotism
and a totalitarian State. The development of administrative law is widely received because it provides an
instrument of control of the exercise of administrative powers.
Function–the administrative law has come to stay. It has come to be accepted as a necessary evil of all
democratic countries of the world where welfare schemes for the general body of people are planned. It has
been accepted as inevitable for modern States which have been introduced by our Constitution and for which
efforts are being made by our government.
As regards the functions of administrative law, it primarily consists in finding the ways in which administration
could be kept within a limit, so that the discretionary powers of administrative authorities could not become
arbitrary powers. “The task of administrative law is to reconcile, in the field of administrative action, the
democratic safeguards, standards of fair play with the effective conduct of the government.” Professor Wade
also emphasizes the same idea by saying that the central question in administrative law is “how can the legal
ideas of fair procedure and just decision be infused into the administrative powers of the State.” Administrative
law supplies a solution to the problem of reconciling freedom with justice, individual liberty with economic and
social functions of a modern government. It keeps the powers of the government within their legal bounds,
so as to protect the citizen against their abuse. It prevents the Government from running amok. Broad and
uncontrolled discretionary powers have inherent seeds of corruption, as in absence of proper norms to regulate
them, they have a tendency to be misused resulting in mal-administration. Administrative law emphasizes upon
a fair administrative procedure to minimize the causes of arbitrariness. It substitutes rule of law in place of
absolute discretion.
Development and sources of Administrative law though on the continent ‘droit administratif ’, or administrative
law was studies as a separate subject long ago; in England the study of administrative law as a separate subject
cannot be dated beyond the twenties of this century which produced sir Cecil Car’s delegated legislation’, Prof,
Robson’s ‘Justice and Administrative law’ and Lord Hewart’s ‘New Despotism’, Even today, it has not become
a fully developed system, as Lord Reid has observed in Ridge v. Baldwin:
“..its growth and development in recent times is done to the fact that in dealing with new types of cases for
courts have had to grope for solutions and have found that old powers, rules, and procedures are largely
inapplicable to cases which they were never designed or intended to deal with.” The Constitution of a country
is the principal source of determining the type and climate of administrative law. In a country like England the
whole of administrative law being treated as a branch of constitutional law, is said to have emerged directly
from the constitutional principle of the rule of law and it does much to determine the balance of powers
between the State and the citizen. The American administrative law is poised on the pillar of ‘due process of
law’ which insists that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
The English doctrine of natural justice, according to Bernard Schwartz, can be compared to American due
process. There is no written Constitution or any guaranteed rights in England, yet the concept of natural justice
and rule of law, which have become the part of its Constitution, has supplied the omission by providing a
mechanism for controlling the entire administrative process. In India, the Constitution has not borrowed the
doctrine of American due process. Life, liberty and property under the Indian constitution are at the mercy of
procedure and authority establishment by law under Article 21. The Indian Constitution permits law to override
principles of natural justice so that legal and statutory justice can become very different from natural justice.
It can cut down right to legal representation, qualify the doctrine of notice and the right to be heard and
prescribe any procedure it thinks fit. The constitutional safeguards provided in our Constitution are of momentous
significance for the problems of administrative law. Since the rule of law constitutes the basic structure of our
Constitution, judiciary under its umbrella has owned the responsibility of putting curbs on administrative
powers and ensuring that the administration follows some procedures and standards in order to preserve the
rights of individuals against administrative onslaughts.
The Law Commission of India which was constituted in 1955 has in its Reports drew the attention of the
Public; the Government and the Legislature to different aspects of administrative law. Of these, the need for
a more effective judicial control over the agencies has been emphasized by the Commission in these words:
“The rule of law and judicial review acquire greater significance in a welfare state the vast amount of legislation
which has been enacted during the last three years by the Union and the States, a great deal of which impinges
in a variety of ways on our lives, and occupations. Much of it also confers large powers on the executive.
The greater, therefore is the need for ceaseless enforcement of the rule of law, so that the executive may not,
in a belief, in its monopoly of wisdom and in its zeal for administrative efficiency, overstep the bounds of its
powers and spread its tentacles in to the domains where the citizen should be free to enjoy the liberty
guaranteed to him by the constitution.
The Constitution of India has itself envisaged a few administrative bodies mainly with a view to effecting inter-
State co-operation and co-ordination and also to solve inter-State problems. The creation of inter-State Council
under Article 263. Finance Commission under Article 280, and the constitution of body under Article 202 to
solve inter-State water disputes, the Union Public Service Commission under Article 315 and Election Commission
under Article 329, provides instances where administrative bodies have found a clear mention in the Constitution
of India. Before 1947, our country was a police State. The British Government did have least concern with the
welfare of the people of India. With the advent of independence a conscious effort has started towards the
achievement of a welfare State. The philosophy of welfare State has been expressly ingrained in our Constitution.
The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may,
a social order in which justice, social, economic and political shall inform all the institutions of the national
life. The State is required to direct its policy towards securing to its citizens an adequate means of livelihood,
distribution of ownership and control of the material sources of the community in such a way as to subserve
the common good; avoidance of concentration of wealth and means of production to common detriment and
equal pay for equal work. Further, in the interpretation of the law and the Constitution, the judiciary does at
times take note of the ideals of a social welfare State even though some of the ideals may not be expressly
incorporated in the Constitution. The emphasis on the concept of social welfare State in India has resulted in
intensive government activities. It has taken over those areas of human actions which were previously left
entirely to individual enterprises. It has reserved the right to carry on a trade or business to the exclusion of
all others in case public interest so demands. It can also impose reasonable restriction upon the private right
of trade and business in the general interest of public. There are several regulatory laws passed in this respect
in our country. In India judiciary has also played a very positive role in the development of administrative law.
The Supreme Court has gradually built up a body of rules to regulate administrative behaviour to prevent its
degeneration into arbitrariness. The underlying objective of these rules has been to ensure administrative fair
play. Prof. M.P. Jain has very rightly observed that “the present day body of Indian administrative law is
primarily the creature of the courts. This is because the Indian legislature has been singularly oblivious of the
needs to develop a viable system of administrative law and has been remiss in tackling constructively the
problems existing in this branch of public law and in suitably adapting the legal norms to contemporary societal
needs. In other common law countries, legislature have overtime enacted statutes to strengthen the control
mechanism over bureaucratic process in order to reconcile the conflict between individual rights and administrative
needs, but not so in India.-Here administrative law is primarily what has been evolved by the Courts.
Four Principal Sources of Administrative Law
There are four principal sources of administrative law in India:
(1) Constitution of India- As it has been stated above, the Constitution itself has provided for the creation
of several administrative bodies and agencies. Moreover, it has devised an extensive mechanism of control
over the various kinds of powers of administrative authorities. For example, Article 32 extends protection
against infringement of any fundamental rights by an administrative action. Similarly Article 226 confers
power on the respective High Courts to provide appropriate remedies in cases of violation of fundamental
rights or legal rights by any administrative or quasi-judicial action. Article 136 confers special jurisdiction
upon the Supreme Court to grant leave to special appeal against any judicial or quasi-judicial order or
decision. Article 299 has fixed contractual liability and Article 300 provides for the tortial liability of the
government.
Both the Articles permit an action for damages, against the government for any breach of contract or
wrongful acts of their servants. Similarly Article 311 ensures protection to the public servants against any
illegal disciplinary actions by their superior authorities. Thus the Constitution has become the foremost
source of administrative law in India.
(2) Acts and Statutes–Different Acts and Status passed from time to time, constitute the second most
important sources of administrative law. Several administrative bodies are created under such Acts and
Status which elaborately define their powers and functions as well as the modes of their control. Most of
the powers of administrative bodies are derived from such statutes in modern times. At times delegated
legislation also-becomes potential source of their powers and functions.
(3) Ordinances, administrative directions, notifications and circulars- Ordinances are issued by the President
and Governors under Articles 123 and 213 in cases of exigencies, which have the force of law for a
particular period of such ordinances generally, give rise to additional power to administrative authorities
in order to meet urgent situations. Besides this, it has become a general practice of modern administrative
set-up that administrative directions and circulars are issued by higher echelons of administration to lower
administrative authorities in order to regulate their day-to-day functioning. In this process, the government
controls not only the exercise of their powers but confers some new powers upon them. But these
directions and circulars do not provide sufficient remedial measures against their misuse, as a result of
which administrative law by devising new modes of remedies has assumed greater importance in modem
time.
(4) Judicial decisions- In the last two decades a spate of judicial decisions of the Supreme Court brought
about revolutionary changes in the areas of judicial remedies against arbitrary administrative actions.
The court by adopting a dynamic approach towards remedial action resorted to liberal interpretation of
those constitutional provisions which related to such remedies. As a result of such approach new modes
of judicial control have been evolved such as extension of the rules of natural justice in administrative
actions, liberalization of locus standi rule, giving rise to public interest litigations, and the expansion of the
scope of judicial review to cover up even those administrative operations which were considered judicially
excluded either expressly or on account of finality clause. The role of judicial decisions has been
commendable in laying down several new principles of administrative law concerning judicial control of
administrative action in India, which have increased the accountability of administrative authorities for the
exercise of their powers. Judicial decisions in India have emerged as a potential source of administrative
law.
The importance of judge-made laws as a source of administrative law has been recognised by Prof. K.C. Davis
also, who believes that bulk of American administrative law is judge made law. He says: “Although administrative
agencies are created only by statutes, by executive order authorised by statutes or by state constitutional
povisions, and although the principal powers and functions of agencies are normally defined by the instruments
which create them, still the great bulk of administrative law is judge-made law. Some of the judge-made law
either is or purports to be constitutional or statutory interpretation, some of it is common law in the sense that
it is produced. By the courts without reliance on either constitutional or statutory provisions, and some of it
is judge-made law that they may or may not be directly or remotely anchored to constitutional or statutory
provisions.”
Relationship between Constitutional law and Administrative law- In England, constitutional law has no special
impact on administrative law as the Constitution is unwritten and as Dicey explain it, the rules which in other
countries form part of a constitutional Code are, in England, the result of the ordinary laws of the land.
Thus the entire control mechanism to which the administrative authorities are subjected can be derived from
the ordinary laws as contained in the statutes and judicial decisions.
To the English writers, there was virtually no difference between constitutional law and administrative law.
According to Prof. Wade, the whole of administrative law, indeed, may be treated as a branch of constitutional
law, since it flows directly from the constitutional principle of rule of law. However, the agrees that administrative
law has assumed a distinct character and has become a subject of independent study. But Holland points out
some functional difference between the two subjects. According to him, the constitutional law describes the
various organs of the government at rest while administrative law describes them in motion. Prof. Jennings,
however, gives a more correct picture in the context of the present English position. He describes that
administrative law deals with the organisation, functions, powers and duties of administrative authorities while
constitutional law deals with the general principle relating to the organisation and power of various organs of
the State.
In written Constitutions like that of India, the relationship between constitutional law and administrative law
is very distinct. There are several principles which are derived from the constitutional law and they constitute
the fundamental basis of administrative law. In fact among the various sources of administrative law, Constitution
stands foremost besides the statutes, statutory instruments and precedents.
In a written Constitution, the control mechanism over the powers of the administrative authorities is sometimes
delineated at length. For example, in India, which has a written Constitution, there are several constitutional
provisions; e. g.. Articles 32, 136, 226, 227, 299 and 300, which comprehensively devise the modes of judicial
control over different kinds of administrative actions. Our Constitution, being the highest law of the land not
only describes the power and functions of various organs of the State but it also spells out the limitations
thereof. If any of these organs does not observe the limitations and exceeds the bounds of their powers and
jurisdiction, their acts would be declared ultra vires the Constitution.
In India, the administrative and executive acts are secured in the following manner:
(a) The legislative acts of the administrative, i.e., statutory instruments (or subordinate legislation) expressly
brought within the fold of Article 13 of the; Constitution which defined ‘law’ so as to include ‘ordinance’,
‘bye-law’, rule, regulation, notification having the force of law. Thus a statutory instrument can be challenged
as invalid not only on the ground of its being ultra vires the Act but also on the ground that it contravenes
some of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution.
(b) Even where the administrative action is non-legislative and does not rest on any statute and is purely
administrative, it will be void if it contravenes any of those fundamental rights which constitute limitation
upon any State action.
(c) An administrative act whether statutory or non-statutory will be void if it contravenes any of the mandatory
and justiciable provision of the Constitution, outside the realm of fundamental rights included in Part III,
eg., Articles 265, 3 01, 311 and 314.
(d) Where the administrative act is statutory there is an additional constitutional ground upon which its
validity may be challenged, namely, the statute under which the administrative order has been made is
itself unconstitutional.
Constitutional law, thus, enters into every sphere of administrative law by providing several modes of judicial
review of administrative actions. In our country it is the duty of the courts to ensure that the administrative
powers are exercised in conformity with the rule of law and constitutional provisions.
The writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court can be invoked under Article 32 in all those cases where a
government action is found to be in violation of fundamental rights guaranteed in Chapter III of the Constitution.
Moreover, the provision of leave to special appeal under Article 136 of the Constitution which is available
against any award, judgment, decree or order passed by any judicial or quasi-judicial authority in India has
vested the Supreme Court with extra ordinary jurisdiction to scrutinise the quasi-judicial functions of administrative
authorities.
The writ jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution providing for the enforcement
of fundamental rights as well as any other important legal rights against the State is an instance of effective
safeguard to citizens of this country. The Constitution also envisages specific provisions for fixing the contractual
and tortious liability of the Government in cases of breach of contract and wrongful acts committed by their
servants. In brief, the growth of Administrative law in India can mainly be ascribed to two things-firstly, to
Constitution and secondly, to Acts and Statutes passed from time to time which confer different types of
powers on administrative agencies.
There is no gainsaying that the judicial activism of recent years has potentially contributed to the development
of administrative law in India. The dynamic interpretation of various remedial provision of the Constitution
has expanded the horizons of judicial control of administrative action. Several principles of administrative law
relating to control mechanism of administrative powers have emanated from judicial pronouncements only.
The expansion of the rules of natural justice of administrative functioning, and the liberalisation of the rule
of locus standi are, the significant instances of the court’s contribution in the development of subject. In the
words of Prof. Jain the great function of the court’s contribution in the development of subject. In the words
of Prof. Jain the great function of the courts is to draw a balance between the individual and the administration
so as to ensure that administrative powers are not misused, and to infuse the ideals of fair procedure and just
decision into the functioning of the bureaucracy. The Supreme Court of India has played a creative role in
developing, clarifying and refining the principles of administrative law in India, and, thus, has gradually built
up a body of rules to govern administrative behavior towards the people. The underlying objective of these
rules is to ensure administrative fariplay.

Droit Administratif
Meaning of Droit Administratif- French administrative law is known as Droit Administratif which means a
body of rules which determine the organisation, powers and duties of public administration and regulate the
relation of the administration with the citizen of the country. Droit Administratif does not represent the rules
and principles enacted by Parliament. It contains the rules developed by administrative courts.
Napoleon Bonaparte was the founder of the Droit Admnistratif. It was he who established the Conseild’ Etat.
He passed an ordinance depriving the law courts of their jurisdiction in administrative matters and another
ordinance that such matters could be determined only by the Conseil d’Etat.
Waline, the French jurist, propounds three basic principles of Droit Administratif:
(1) The power of administration to act suo motu and impose directly on the subject the duty to obey its
decision;
(2) The power of the administrative to take decisions and to execute them suo motu may be exercised only
within the ambit of law which protects individual liberties against administrative arbitrariness;
(3) The existence of a specialized administrative jurisdiction. Waline puts it: “One speaks of administrative
jurisdiction because these decisions relate to the superior control of the Conseil D’Etat. Either by means
of appeal or by means of recourse on cessation. This is a principle laid down by the Conseild’Etat, that
from administrative decisions there is a right of appeal to the Conceil even where the law is silent or if
it provides that the tribunals are the final authority.”
One good result of this is that an independent body reviews every administrative action. The Conseild’Etat
composed of eminent civil servants, deals with a variety of matters Reclaim of damages for wrongful acts of
Government servants, income-tax, pensions, disputed elections, personal claims of civil servants against the
State for wrongful dismissal or suspension and so on. It has interfered with administrative orders on the ground
of error of law, lack of jurisdiction, irregularity of procedure and detournement de pouvoir (misapplication of
power). It has exercised its jurisdiction liberally.
Main characteristic features of droit administratif- The following characteristic features are of the Droit
Administratif in France:
(1) Those matters concerning the State and administrative litigation falls within the jurisdiction of administrative
courts and can’t be decided by the land of the ordinary courts.
(2) Those deciding matters concerning the State and administrative litigation, rules as developed by the
administrative courts are applied.
(3) If there is any conflict of jurisdiction between ordinary courts and administrative court, it is decided by
the tribunal des conflits.
(4) Conseil d’Etat is the highest administrative court.
It has been quite successful in subjecting the administration to the Rule of law. “This success”, in words of
Prof, Brown and Prof. J.P. Garner may be attributed to a combination of following factors:
(i) The composition and functions of the Conseild’ Etat itself;
(ii) The flexibility of its case-law;
(iii) The simplicity of the remedies available before the administrative courts;
(iv) The special procedure evolved by those courts: and
(v) The character of the substantive law which they apply.
Despite the obvious merits of the French administrative law system; Prof. Dice’ was of the opinion that there
was no rule of law in France nor was the system as satisfactory as it was in England. He believed that the
review of administrative action is better administered in England than in France.
The system of Droit Administratif according to Dicey, is based on the following two ordinary principles which
are alien to English law- Firstly, that government and every servant of the government possess, as representative
of the nation, a whole body of special rights, privileges or prerogatives as against private citizens, and the extent
of rights, privileges or prerogatives is to be determined on principles different from the considerations which
if the legal rights and duties of one citizen towards another. An individual in his dealings with the State does
not, according to French law stand on the same footing as that on which he stands in dealing with his neighbour.
Secondly, that the government and its officials should be independent of and free from the jurisdiction of
ordinary courts.
It was on the basis of these two principles that Dicey observed that Droit Administratif is opposed to rule of
law and, theme, administrative law is alien to English system. But this conclusion of Dicey was misconceived.
Droit Administratif, that is, administrative law was as much there in England as it was in France but with a
difference that the French Droit Administratif was based on a system which was unknown to English law.
In his later days after examining the things closely, Dicey seems to have perceptibly modified his stand. Despite
its overall superiority, the French administrative law cannot be characterised with perfection. Its glories have
been marked by the persistent slowness in the judicial review at the administrative courts and by the difficulties
of ensuring the execution of its last judgment. Moreover, judicial control is the only one method of controlling
administrative action in French administrative law, whereas, in England, a vigilant public opinion, a watchful
Parliament, a self disciplined civil service and the jurisdiction of administrative process serve as the additional
modes of control over administrative action. By contrast, it has to be conceded that the French system still
excels its counterpart in the common law countries of the world.
Separation of Powers
The doctrine of Separation of Powers is of ancient origin. The history of the origin of the doctrine is traceable
to Aristotle. In the 16th and 17th Centuries, French philosopher John Bodin and British politician Locke
respectively had expounded the doctrine of separation of powers. But it was Montesquieu, French jurist, who
for the first time gave it a systematic and scientific formulation in his book ‘Esprit des Lois’ (The spirit of the
laws).
Meaning and Importance- According to Montesquieu, the doctrine of separation of powers (des pouvoirs)
means that one person or body of persons should not exercise all the three types of powers of government,
namely, executive, legislative and judicial. The legislature should-make law and should not administer or enforce
it. The executive should neither control the legislature for getting laws it wants, nor should it take over the
functions of the judiciary; if that were so, justice will be arbitrary and capricious. The judiciary should be
independent both of the Executive and of the Legislature.
Montesquieu’s view–Montesquieu said that if the Executive and the Legislature are the same person or body
of persons, there would be a danger of the Legislature enacting oppressive laws which the executive will
administer to attain its own ends, for laws to be enforced by the same body that enacts them result in arbitrary
rule and makes the Judge a legislator rather than interpreter of law. If one person or body of persons could
exercise both the executive and judicial powers in the same matter, there would be arbitrary powers which
would amount to complete tyranny, if the legislative power would be added to the power of that person.
The value of the doctrine lies in the fact that its seeks to preserve human liberty by avoiding the concentration
of powers in one person or body of persons. The different organs of government should thus be prevented from
encroaching on the province of the other organ.
Wade and Phillips say that the doctrine means the following three things:
(a) The same set of persons should not compose more than one department of the three departments.
(b) One department should not exercise the functions of the other two departments.
(c) One department should control, or interfere with the work of other two departments.
Thus the doctrine lays emphasis on the separation both at the personnel as well as functional level. In an ideal
set-up the separation in both these aspects should be clear and complete. However the doctrine seems to be
still unrealised. The nearest approximation is found under the State Constitution of Massachusetts in the
United States of America. There it is said that “…the legislative department shall never exercise the executive
and judicial powers or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers or
either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive or either of them, to the end it
may be “government of law and not of men.”
Anglo-American Position
The doctrine of separation of powers was inferred by Montesquieu from the British Constitution. The truth,
however is that it is not an essential aspect of British Constitution. Even in the transitional period of the
English Constitution when Montesquieu lived under the Bourborn despotism in France, the doctrine was never
relied upon in England. The king though greatly weakened in the exercise of his prerogative powers was still
associated with law-making and his Ministers sat in Parliament. Their presence in the Parliament was barred
only for a brief period under the Act of Settlement. The provision barring the membership of the Commons
was soon repealed providing a congenial atmosphere for the development of the cabinet system of government
and the principles of collective responsibility to the Commons. This was a negation of the dogmatic application
of the doctrine. Moresoever, instead of a strict application of the doctrine of separation of powers, the
excellence of the English Government consists in the fact that “all parts of it form a mutual check upon each
other.” It is this interpretation of Montesquieu which constitutes one of the characteristics of the English
Constitution. Prof. Ullman says: England is not the classic home of the separation of powers. Each power there
has taken on a character of own whilst at the same time preserving the features of the others.” The position
has been summed-up by the Donough more Committee in the following words-”In the British Constitution
there is no such thing as the absolute separation of legislative-executive and judicial powers. In practie it is
inevitable that they overlap. In the Constitutions of France and U.S.A., attempts to keep the organs of the
government rigidly apart have been made but have proved unsuccessful.” It is in the Constitution of United
States of America that the doctrine of separation of powers has found high recognition. In the Constitution
the legislative power has been vested in the Congress under Article 1, the executive powers have been vested
in President under Article II, and Article II provides that the judicial powers of the United States shall be vested
in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”
From these provision of the Constitution the rule has been deduced that the powers vested in one branch of
the government cannot be vested in any other branch. Sutherland’s observations are most pertinent in this
connection. He says “It may be stated as a general rule inherent in American constitutional system, that unless
otherwise expressly provided or incidental to the power conferred; the Legislature cannot exercise either
executive or judicial powers, the judiciary cannot exercise either executive or legislative powers.”
Indian Position
In India the doctrine cannot claim any historical background. The Legislature did not appear as a body separate
from the executive on the Indian scene as Iate as the middle of 19th century. It was only after the independence
that a Constitutent Assembly was constituted to draft a Constitution for the country. In the Constituent
Assembly there was a proposal to incorporate the doctrine into the Constitution itself but it was turned down.
The doctrine in its absolute rigidity is not inferable from the provisions of the Constitution. However, Article
50 provides for the separation of the judiciary from the executive. Some sincere endeavours have been made
to fulfil the above objective of the Constitution. But the above article cannot be said to have incorporated the
whole doctrine. The Constitution has not made any absolute or rigid division of functions among the three
agencies of the State. As a general practice, the executive has been entrusted with t9he legislative and judicial
powers. Nevertheless the functional separation of three different agencies has not been ignored. The executive
power is vested President of Indian Union under Article 53(I) and the Governors of the State under Article
154(1)/The President being the head of the Union exercises his power constitutionally on the aid and advice
of his Council of Ministers. On the other hand, the President is given extensive legislative powers. He can
make ordinances. The promulgation of Ordinances is essentially legislative power which extends to all things
which are within the legislative jurisdiction of Parliament subject only to the limitation of Article 123.
The President has been further empowered to make laws for a State after emergency has been declared under
Article 356 of the Constitution. He exercises purely legislative functions under Articles 372 and 372-A.
The President performs judicial functions also. He has the power to decide cases of disqualification of membership
of the Houses of Parliament under Article-103; The judicial functions of the Houses of Parliament are also
substantial in certain respects. They can consider the questions of breach of any known parliamentary privileges
and where the breach is established they have power to punish for contempt. In the event of impeachment of
the President one of the Houses acts as the procutor and the other House investigates the charges and declares
whether the charges have been sustained or not under Article 61. The High Courts in certain marginal spheres
perform a function which are administrative rather than judicial. Their power of supervision over other subordinate
courts under Article 227 is more of administrative nature rather than judicial. Under Article 228 they have
power to effect transfer of cases. The legislative powers of the High Courts and the Supreme Court consists
in their powers to frame rules. This power is fairly wide. Besides functional overlapping the personnel separation
is also absent in this country. This is invariably unavoidable in a parliamentary system of government.
No individual can be member of the Council of Ministers for more than six months unless he is also member
of either House of Parliament under Article 75(5). He sits in either House, and votes in the House of which
he is a member. The principle of collective responsibility of the popular House is a direct negation of the
doctrine of separation of powers. It creates an interministerial responsibility on the one hand and accountability
of the Legislature on the other.
Modern Approach of Court on Administrative Law
“The courts in India are becoming more and more conscious of arbitrary action taken by administrative
authority in spheres where the relevant statute does not lay down any quasi-judicial obligation. It is well settled
that the old distinction between a judicial act and administrative act has withered away and we have been
liberated from the pestilent incantation of administrative action. The direction in which the apex court has
developed the law is more vital and intriguing court has developed the law is more vital and intriguing and the
attempt now is to disregard the old distinction between administrative and quasi-judicial decision for the
purpose of requiring that an administrative authority, in respect of whom the Court cannot predicate a quasi-
judicial obligation even by implication must comply with the minimal requirements of justice and fair play.
It is well settled that writ of certiorari can be issued whenever any body of persons having legal authority to
determine questions affecting rights of subjects, having the duty to act judicially and act in excess of their legal
authority.
In course of time the above traditional view has been expanded by extending this remedy even to administrative
proceedings where there may not be any statutory obligation to proceed quasi-judicially. Judicial quest in
administrative matters has been to find the right balance between the administrative discretion to decide
matters whether contractual or political in nature or issues social policy; thus they are not essentially justiciable
and the need to remedy any unfairness. Such an unfairness is set right to judicial reviews.
Even if appropriate proceeding can be adopted for detecting frauds and bringing the guilty to book or even for
effectively checking such tendencies by having appropriate vigilance machinery. But to refuse to appoint a more
meritorious candidate only on the ground that his cousin brother was working in the same post office would
be totally an exercise of power which cannot be countenanced on the touch stone of Article 14 of the
Constitution of India.
There, a free play in the joints is a necessary concomitant for an administrative body functioning in an
administrative sphere or quasi-administrative sphere. However the decision must not only be tested by the
application of wednesburg principle of reasonableness; but must be free from arbitrariness not affected by bias
or actuated by mala fides.
The principle of natural justice has assumed a wider horizon these days. The right to reason is an indispensable
part of sound judicial review. The giving of reasons is one of the fundamental of good administration.
Judicial opinion on the doctrine of separation of powers
A survey of the constitutional provisions establishes that this doctrine under the Constitution of India is an
approximation of the British position rather than American. There is no direct declaration on this point which
is also not possible today when the doctrine is being surrendered in the face of unprecedented growth of
delegated legislation and judicial powers of the Administration. Justice Mahajan took note of this point and
stated in the famous case of Re Delhi Laws Act, that “it does not admit of serious dispute that the doctrine
of separation of powers has, strictly speaking, no place in the system of government that India has, at present
under our Constitution. Unlike the American and Australian Constitutions, the Indian Constitution does not
expressly vest the different sets of powers in different organs of the State…our Constitution though federal in
form is modelled on the British Parliamentary system, the essential feature of which is the responsibility of
the executive to the Legislature…….”
To the same effect is the observation of Justice Das in Ram Krishna Dalmia v. Justice Tendolkar when he said,
“The Constitution does not express the existence of separation of powers, and it is true that division of powers
of the government into legislative, executive and judicial is implicit in the Constitution but the doctrine does
not form an essential basis of foundation-stone of the constitutional framework as it does in U.S.A. In Chandra
Mohan v. state of U.P., it was held that though our Constitution does not accept the strict doctrine of
separation of powers but provides for an independent judiciary in the State, it constitutes a High Court for each
State, prescribes the institutional conditions of service of the justices thereof confers extensive jurisdiction on
it to issue writs to keep all tribunals, including in appropriate cases the Government which is bound and given
to it the power of superintendence over all courts and tribunals in the territory over which it has jurisdiction.
Again in Udai Ram Sharma v. Union of India, the Court categorically stated that the doctrine has not been
accepted by our Constitution. The Court expressed its opinion that the American doctrine of separation of
powers has no application in India.
But in Ram Jawaya v. State of Punjab, the Supreme Court stated that the doctrine of separation of powers
has been essentially contained in the Constitution. It was stated that “the Indian Constitution has not indeed
recognized the doctrine of the separation of powers in its absolute rigidity but the functions of the different
parts of branches of the Government have been sufficiently differentiated and consequently it can very well
be said that our Constitution does not contemplate assumption, by one organ or part of the State, of functions
that essentially belong to another.”
In Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain, Beg J., has observed that separation of powers is a feature of the basic structure
of the Indian Constitution. None of the three separate organs of the Republic can take over the functions
assigned to the other. This constitutional scheme can’t be changed even by resorting to amending process under
Article 368 of the Indian Constitution.

System of checks and Balances

Today, a new interpretation of the doctrine has been evolved. It seeks to emphasise upon the functional division
of powers. The principle of delegation of legislative functions is not regarded inconsistent with the doctrine.
Emphasis is laid on the balance of power and a system of checks. No single agency of the State should emerge
as dominant one by assuming greater power in its hands and each of them should exercise a check upon the
other so that none of them exceeds the authority vested in it by the Constitution. The very purpose of the
doctrine is to prevent concentration of powers in a by one of these three agencies and also to prevent them
from making encroachments upon the other’s activities so that autocracy may not replace rule of law. All the
three organs must act in complete coordination with each other without interfering the functioning of the other
organ. Considering the present meaning of the doctrine in this perspective the Indian Constitution can rightly
claim to represent it.
Chandrachud, J., took the same view when he observed that the political usefulness of the doctrine is now
widely recognized. No constitution can survive without a conscious adherence to its fine checks and balances.
Just as courts ought not to enter into problems, enshrined in the ‘political thicket’. Parliament must also respect
the preserve of the courts. The principle of separation of powers is a principle of restraint which has in it the
precept innate in the prudence of self-preservation, that discretion is the better part of valour.
Perhaps, in view of the above meaning of the doctrine evolved in modern times, the Supreme Court in the
Kesavanand Bharti’s case changed its opinion and pointed out that both the supremacy of the Constitution and
separation of powers are constituents of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. The view has been
reaffirmed by the Court in Smt, Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain Singh, Beg, j., observed: “this Constitution
has a basic structure comprising the three organs of the Republic: the executive, the Legislature and the
judiciary. It is through each of these organs that the sovereign will of the people has to operate and manifest
itself and not through only one of them. Neither of these separate organs of the Republic can take over the
functions assigned to the other. This is the basic structure of scheme of the Government of the Republic laid
down in this Constitution.
The Supreme Court in the case of Asif Hamid v. State of J. and K., has observed that “Judicial review is a
powerful weapon to restrain, unconstitutional exercise of power by the legislature and executive. The expanding
horizon of judicial review has taken in its fold the concept of social and economic justice. While exercise of
powers by the legislature and executive is subject to judicial restraint, the only check on our own exercise of
power is the self-imposed discipline of judicial restraint.” But, in krishan Kumar v. Union of India, the
Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court observed: “In the matter of expenditure includible in the Annual
Financial statement this Court has to be loath to pass any order or give any direction because of the division
of functions between the three co-equal organs of the Government under the Constitution” not, any court can
issue a direction to a legislature to enact a particular law. Similarly a court cannot direct an executive authority
to enact a law which it has been empowered to do under the delegated legislative authority.

Rule of Law
Rule of law according to Dicey is one of the basic features of the English constitutional system. It has a
number of different meanings and corollaries. The origin of the concept of the rule of law is ascribed to
Edward Coke in England when he remarked that the king must be under the God and law. He meant the
supremacy of law over the executive. According to him it means: firstly, absence of arbitrary power on the part
of the Government, which means that the administration possesses no discretionary powers apart from those
conferred by law. From this follow the corollary that no man is punishable or can be made to suffer in body-
or goods, except for a distinct breach of law.
Although in England there is no special court for trying State offences, yet there are numerous tribunals which
are not ordinary courts and they cannot be said to administer the ordinary laws. Besides Court Martial and the
juvenile Courts, there are now over hundred kinds of administrative tribunals. As a general practice judicial
powers are conferred on the executive in modern times and, therefore, tribunals abound in different forms.
The members of the tribunal have special powers and immunities which the ordinary citizens do not have.
In some cases they are (to use Dicey’s phrase) “above the ordinary lay?’. H olds worth thought that the rule
of law was preserved in so far as there is a judicial control over delegated legislation and administrative
jurisdiction but the rule of law is abrogated whenever Parliament grants administrative discretion to the officials
and adnii6strafive bodies on questions of justiciable nature and ousts the controlling jurisdiction of the courts.
Mathew, J., in Smt. Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain, observed that, “Dicey’s formulation of rule of law, the
absolute supremacy or predominance of regular law, as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power, excluding
the existence of arbitrariness, of prerogative, even of wide discretionary authority on the part of the Government
has been discarded in the latter editions of his book….There has been no Government or legal system in the
world history which did not involve both rules and discretion. It is impossible to find a Government of laws
alone and not men in the sense of eliminating all discretionary powers. All Governments are of laws and of
men.” The significance of this rule for the English lawyer can be expressed in three ways:
(1) It influences legislators. The substantive law at any given time must approximate to the ‘Rule of law’.
It urges upon the Legislature to uphold its supremacy.
(2) It provides canons of interpretation which express the individualistic attitude of the English courts.
They give an indication as to how the law will be applied and the legislation would be interpreted.
(3) The rule of law is a rule of evidence; everyone is prima facie equal before the law. A person whether an
executive officer or not may have special rights, powers, privileges and immunities but if so, he must prove
them. In this sense the Government is subject to law. The Committee on Minister’s powers while elaborating
the significance of rule of law in England emphasized upon the fundamental necessity of not only
maintaining but strengthening the supremacy of law and equal subjection of all classes to regular law
administered by the regular courts to law The Committee further laid down, “‘we are, therefore, unanimously
of opinion that no considerations of administrative convenience, or executive efficiency, should be allowed
to weaken the control of the courts, and that no obstacle should be placed by Parliament in the way of
subjects unimpeded access to them.” The above view on rule of law was also incorporated in the report
of the Nth Committee constituted by the International Congress of jurists held at New Della in January
1959. Equal access to law for the rich and poor alike is essential to the maintenance of the rule of law.

Other views on Rule of Law- For Professor E.C.S. Wade the basic assumption of the rule of law is the absence
of arbitrary power on the part of the government According to him, its primary meaning is that everything
must be done according to law. Applied to the powers of government, this requires that every government
authority which does some act which otherwise would be wrong (such as taking a man’s land) or which infringes
a man’s liberty must be able to justify its action as authorized by law…..The secondary meaning of the rule
of law is that government should be conducted within a framework of recognized rule and principles which
restrict discretionary powers.
Moderating the Dicey’s meaning in the present day context, Prof Wade includes under the rule of law-effective
control of and proper publicity for delegated legislation particularly when it imposes penalties that should as
far as practicable be defined; every man should be responsible to the ordinary laws whether lie be private citizen
or public officer, that private rights should be determined by impartial and independent tribunals and that
fundamental private rights are safeguarded by the ordinary laws of the land”. The rule of law, he adds, is
reconciled into the supremacy of Parliament by the independence of the judiciary, but the independence of
the judiciary from one point of view, is generally regarded as forming part of the rule of law and from another
point of view is itself secured merely by Act of Parliament.
The essence of rule of law, according to Prof. A.L. Goodhart, is that public officers care governed by law, which
limits their powers. It means government under law-the supremacy of law over the government is distinct from
government by law—the mere supremacy flaw in society generally which would apply also to totalitarian States.
John Finnis says that by ‘rule of law’ is meant a system in which (i) its rules are prospective, (ii) possible to
comply with, (iii) promulgated, (iv) clear; (v) coherent with each other, (vi) sufficiently stable, (vii) the making
of decrees and orders is guided by rules that are themselves promulgated, clear stable and relatively general,
(viii) those who administer rules are accountable for their own compliance with rules relating to their activities
and who perform these consistently and in accordance with law.
Sir Ivor Jennings would equate the rule of law with democracy as understood by the liberal tradition.
It demands in the first place that the powers of the executive should not only be derived from the law (as Dicey
said) but that they should be limted by law. Every political authority except perhaps Parliament is subject to
considerable limitations.
English law in its history and substance has undoubtedly, exhibited a great respect for the concept and the
application of the rule of law. The rule of law hither to has been regarded largely to concern with the negative
ideals, e.g., protecting the individuals from arbitrary powers, but it: has recently moved on to positive plane
mainly because of the report of International Commission of Jurists which net in 1959 at New Delhi.
The report emphasised a more positive approach to rule of law. It lays emphasis not only on the provisions
of adequate safeguard against abuse of power but also on the existence of effective government capable of
maintaining law and order and of achieving such social, economic conditions as will ensure reasonable economic
security, social welfare and education for the mass of the people. The Report may be summarized as follows:
(a) The function of the Legislature in a free society under the rule of law is to create and maintain the
conditions which will uphold the dignity of man as individual. The dignity requires not only recognition
of his civil and political rights but also establishment of the social, economic, educational and cultural
conditions which are essential to the development of his personality.
It further emphasized that the State should not pass discriminatory laws, it should not interfere with the
and it should not resort to undue restrictions of their freedoms.
(b) The ruIe of law depends not only on the provisions of adequate safeguard against abuse of power by the
executive, but also on the existence of effective government capable of maintaining law and order and of
ensuring adequate social and economic conditions of life for the society.
(c) An independent judiciary and a free legal profession are indispensable society tinder the rule of law.
Independence here implies freedom from interferance by the Executive or Legislative with the exercise of the
judicial function. Independence does not mean that a Judge is entitled to act in an arbitrary manner; his duty
is to interpret the law and the fundamental assumptions which underlie it, to the best of his abilities and in
accordance with the dictates of his own conscience. Further. it is essential to the maintenance of the rule of
law that there should be an organised legal profession, free to manage its own affairs under the general
supervision of the Courts. The lawyers should be free to accept any case which is offered to him unless his
acceptance of the brief would be incompatible with his obligation not to mislead the Courts or give rise to a
personal conflict of interest. A lawyer should be free without fear of the consequences to press upon the Court
any argument of law or facts which does not involve a deliberate deception of the Court.
The same points were restated in the Law of Lagos (1961) by the jurists, Judges and lawyers in the following
words:
“The rule of law is a dynamic concept which should be employed not only to safeguard and advance the civil
and political rights of the individual in a free society but also to establish certain social, economic, educational
and cultural conditions under which his legitimate aspirations and dignity may be realised.”
It may be mentioned here that the broader perspectives of rule of law concluded by the International Commission
of Jurists have greater relevance in the under-developed countries. A mere constitutional guarantee of the rights
cannot yield any good unless conditions are created by the government for the proper enjoyment of those
rights. A country which suffers from political instability and unwarranted encroachment on the judicial process
by the executive cannot realize the objectives of rule of law.
The concept of rule of law, in modern age, does not oppose the practice of conferring discretionay powers upon
the government but on the other hand emphasises on spelling out the manner of their exercise. I t also ensures
that every man is bound by the ordinary laws of the land whether he be private citizen or a public officer; that
private rights are safeguarded by the ordinary laws of the land.
Thus the rule of law signifies that nobody is deprived of his rights and liberties by an administrative action;
that the administrative authorities perform their functions according to law and not arbitrarily: that the laws of
the land are not unconstitutional and oppressive; that the supremacy of courts is upheld and judicial control
of administrative action is fully secured.
Rule of law vis-a-vis Administrative Law
It is sometimes said that the rule of law is negation of administrative law. In fact the concept of rule of law
hampered the recognition of administrative law in England for a long time because of the influence of Dicey’s
interpretation-As it has been earlier pointed out that for Dicey administrative law was alien to England, because
it meant several things, e.g., the establishment of administrative courts for deciding disputes between State
officials and individuals, as they existed in Frane but not in England. According to Dicey all these factors were
opposed to rule of law. Dicey believed, although wrongly, that only England is the sole repository of rule of
law. In modem times also there is a thinking that the growth of administrative powers, which was ate inevitable
consequence of planning and welfare activities of the State, has come in the way of rule of law. National
planning has completely put into oblivion the ideals of personal freedom and liberty in several respects. There
is greater degree of public control over so many areas which hence forth constituted the areas of operations
of private rights. In carrying out the welfare activities of the State, the administration had to be armed with
greater power and in this process a large measure of personal freedoms was bound to be eclipsed. If rule of
law is intended to ensure personal freedom and rights and adequate safeguards against any encroachment on
them, then the growth administrative law seemingly contradicts rule of law. But,-in fact, the rule of law
emphasizes upon rule that the executive must act under the law and not by its own whims and fiat.
The executive does not derive the powers out of its own according but derives them from the law. The rule
of law serves as the basis of judicial control over administrative action. Its principle concern like that of
administrative law is to keep the executive and the operation of its powers within the limits of law so that it
may not turn to be arbitrary. There is no incompatibility between the rule of law and administrative law. In
reality, viewed as a system of control of administrative powers, it can be asserted that administrative law does
not contradict but, on the other hand, promotes rule of law. Administrative law not unlike rule of law has not
come to establish ‘New Despotism’ but to make it impossible. Like the rule of law it also ensures proper and
orderly exercise of the administrative powers. Hence the two are not opposed to each other but on the other
hand go parallel with a common objective of achieving an orderly government.
Rule of law under the Indian Constitution
In India, the Constitution is supreme. The preamble of our Constitution clearly sets out the principle of rule
of law when it lays down the objectives of social, economic and political justice, equality of status and
opportunity, and fraternity and dignity of individuals in India. Part III of the Constitution lays down the
fundamental rights guaranteed to every citizen of the country. These rights are justiciable under Articles 32 and
226 of the Constitution which ensure them a protection from any legislative or executive encroachments. Laws
including ordinance, bye-laws, rules, regulations, notifications, customs or usages having the force of law must
conform to the requirements of the constitutional provisions. Where they do not conform, they will be declared
void under Article 13 and other relevant Articles of the Constitution. The law of preventive detention which
is obnoxious to the rule of law must, however, conform to the procedure established by law under Article 21
of the Indian Constitution.
It is sometimes said that planning and welfare schemes essentially strike at rifle of law because they affect the
individual freedoms and liberty in many ways. But rule of law plans effective role by emphasizing upon fair
play and greater accountability of the administration. It lays greater emphasis upon the principles of natural
justice and the rule of speaking order in administrative process in order to eliminate administrative arbitrariness.
Justice Ramaswamy of the Supreme Court very aptly remarked on the importance of rule of law in a planned
society like that in India:
“In administration there is obvious need for individual action, there is call for speedy determination; there is
necessity for direction, a large measure of freedom is, therefore, conferred upon government official`s for
carrying out administrative schemes. How far is this state of affairs compatible with the rules of law? It is true
that national planning involves public control and direction of economic and social activities. National planning
also involves control of basic industries, land ceiling, increased taxation, priorities, mobilization of labour,
control of imports and exports, slum clearance and so on. But the rule of law is one of the basic values in a
democratic State. Unless there is rule of law, there is danger that the administration would become totalitarian.
It is true that planning tends to eclipse the rule of law. There is concentration of power in the executive.
The legislature must increasingly delegate its power to administrative authorizes. The legislature is also compelled
to confer judicial powers upon administrative authorizes so that welfare project may be implemented in an
effective manner. The problem is now to reconcile national planning and administrative discretion with the
greatest amount of legal safeguards. The development of a planned society necessarily means reorientation of
the traditional legal approach but it does no mean the abrogation of the rule of law. Rule of law is necessary
if fundamental democratic values are to be preserved and if the democratic structure of the State is to be
maintained.”
In Smt. Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain Mathew, J., stated that according to the majority opinion in the
Bharati’s case rule of law is a basic structure of the Constitution apart from democracy. “The rule of law
postulates the pervasiveness of the spirit of law throughout the whole range of government in the sense of
excluding arbitrary official action in any sphere it is an expression to give reality to something which is not
readily expressible. It is impossible to enunciate the rule of law which has as its basis that no decision can be
made unless there is a certain rule to govern decision. The provisions of the Constitution were enacted with
a view to ensure the rule of law. The equality aspect of the rule of law and of democratic republicanism is
provided in Article 14 of the Constitution. The Court expressed its confidence about the existence of rule of
law under our constitution even in its earlier pronouncement, namely, in A.K. Kraipak v. Union of India, it was
observed:
“Under our Constitution the rule of law pervades over the anti-field of administration. Every organ of the State
under our Constitution is regulated and controlled by the rule of law. In a welfare State like ours it is inevitable
that the jurisdiction of the administrative bodies is increasing at a rapid rate. The concept of our Constitution
would lose its validity if the instrumentalities of the State are not chrged with the duty of discharging their
function in a fair and just manner.”
The Supreme Court emphasised the importance of the rule of law in the context of lndian Constitution in the
case of State of Bibar v. Sonawati Kumari. The Court observed:
“It is of the essence of the rule of law that every authority within the State including the executive government
should consider itself bound by an obey the law….when the State Government obeys the law or give effective
to an order of the court passed against, it is not doing anything which detracts from its dignity, but rather invests
the laws and the courts with the dignity which are their due, which enhances the prestige of the executive
government itself, in a democratic set up.”
Delhi High Court in Om Oil & Oil Seeds Exchange Ltd.,Delhi v. Union of India, upheld the sanctity of the
rule of law even during the promulgation of emergency and the suspension of the fundamental rights. Neither
the declaration of emergency nor the suspension of the fundamental rights can be destructive of the rule of
law. Such a declaration and the consequential suspension of the fundamental right combined with other
constitutional changes in their wake, to an extent, abridged the rule of law but all these do not add up to an
abrogation of it.” H.L Anand, J., observed:
“The expression ‘Rule of law’ is used in contradistinction of the rule of man. In the system in which Rule of
Law prevails it is the law that rules even though through the instrumentality of man, and not the man
independently of or above the law. In such a system alI executive actions must be based on legal sanction and
there is no place for executive action that springs from individual whim, malice or caprice. Rule of Law,
therefore, has a built in safeguard against arbitrary action. Arbitrary action is complete anti-thesis of the Rule
of law.”
In an early case S.G. Jaisinghani v Union of India and others, the Supreme Court portrayed the essentials of
rule of law in a very lucid manner. It observed: “The absence of arbitrary power is the first essential of the
le of law upon which our whole constitutional system is based. In a system governed by rule of law , discretion
when conferred upon executive authorities must be continued within clearly defined limits. The rule of law
from this point of view means that decisions should be made by the application of known principles and rules
and, in general such decision should be predictable and the citizen should know where he is. if a decision is
taken without any principle or without any rule it is unpredictable and such a decision is antithesis of a decision
taken in accordance with the rule of law.” The Supreme Court in a case, namely, Supreme Court Advocates
on Record Association v. Union of India, reiterated that absence of arbitrariness is one of the essentials of rule
of law. The Court observed: “for the rule of law to be realistic there has to be rooms for discretionary authority
within the operation of rule of law, even though it has to be reduced to the minimum extent necessary for
proper, governance, and within the area of discretionary authority, the existence of proper guidelines or norms
of general application excludes any arbitrary exercise of discretionary authority. In such a situation, the exercise
of discretionary authority in its application to individuals, according to proper guidelines and norms, further
reduces the area of discretion, but to that extent discretionary authority has to be given to make the system
workable.”
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Foundation 2020
– Ashutosh Pandey

PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 8

Techniques of Administrative
Improvement
 COMPARATIVE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Comparative Public Administration in essence is ecological in nature. It tends to study administration within
it’s surrounding thereby impacting it an interdisciplinary look. It takes help of disciplins like Anthropology,
Psychlogy, Socio-psycho, law etc to explain it’s areas of concern.
CPA has come out with development orientation. One of the major conceptual frameworks of comparative
movement was development Admn. (DA) i.e. special administrative responsibility of developing countries to
bring about rapid socio-economic development.

EVOLUTION
Comparative movement in PA is a post war development. But necessarily the evolutionary path of CPA can
be understood by dividing the comparative concerns in PA into two parts i.e., pre-war development & post-
war development.
Woodrow Wilson, the father of the discipline of PA is also referred to as the first comparativist. He emphasized
on the comparison between the American govt. System and cabinet system of UK, to demonstrate that USA
lacked a unified administrative system in several fields of administration. The comparative paradigm contained
in Wilsonian thought can be explained as under:
(i) The science of admn. For us can be derived by focusing from democrative point of view.
(ii) Good governance is synonymous with the practices of PA.
(iii) Civic issues were significant to conduct every day administration.
(iv) Administration can be evaluated in it’s best by removing the political aspects of administration.
The comparative concerns during the earliest period of PA stated on a small scale in the 19th century. It was
visible through reform movement in us at the municipal level, civil services reforms and other governmental
reforms.

However in this context, comparison was made with other American institutions i.e. intra-national comparisons.
Many reports of commissions and certain literature signified the comparative concerns of PA, such as us senate
report (1888), the cockery-cockrell commission (1893), committee on economy and efficiency (1912), etc.
Publication of L.D. White’s “Introduction to the study of Public Administration” and Willoughby’s “Principles
of Public Administration” emphasized on cross-cultural and international studies.

Scienticism led by Taylor and other civil service reformers such as “Dorman B. Ealton” had also advocated
the British personnel system practices in the US.

The era of scienticism led by FW Taylor which came out with scientific management movement though was
not a cross-cultural and comparative theoretical development, yet in become an international movement in the
1920’s and it’s ideals found application not only in America but also in Europe and Russia. Taylor’s principles
had in practice cross-cultural applicability. The subsequent developments like Human relations Approach lacked
in cross cultural and cross national orientation.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PA& CPA:
The traditional studies in PA lacked in proper comparative orientation. They were unsatisfactory and incomplete,
characterized by:
(a) Non-western administration systems/studies were overlooked. It only studied western nations, their
structures, institutions and value premises.
(b) It ignored non-administrative aspects like political, social, economic, cultural, psychological environment
that possibly influences and administration and it’s functioning.
(c) It was limited to constitutionalism and liberal democratic studies. It ignored certain other institutions like
totalitarianism, dictatorship, communism, socialism etc.
(d) It was legalistic and formalistic in nature. It ignored multi-functional character of administrative structures
and institutions.
(e) It was by and large descriptive without being analytical, explanatory and problem solving.
(f) It was by and large restricted within the boundaries i.e. it ignored the tools, techniques, methods,
methodologies or other conceptual developments in other subjects of social science.
(g) It was basically non-comparative and based on “configurative approach”.
Certain fundamental changes in the world politics, world economic order, science and technology, ideology as
well as in studies of PA, has brought about certain changes which led to a major shift or break in the methods,
mathodologies, theories and orientation in PA, thus elaborating the major conceptual and theoretical development
in PA. Subsequent to that has been comparative Public Administration.

POST-WORLD WAR II DEVELOPMENT:

Post World War is significant of the cold war politics, World War reconstruction programs and evergence of
a vast patch of newly independent nations. Within the period there has also been a shift in the orientation of
the scholars in Public Administration and Political Science. Post War development is significant for atleast two
challenges that were posed to the administrative theory.
1. Scholars like Simon, Waldo, Edwin Stene etc. stressed the need for more scientific explanations in the
literature.
2. Some scholars called for rigorons cross cultural analysis in PA i.e. Robert Dahr, emphasized that as long
as the study of PA is not comparative, claims for a science of PA sounds rather hollow.
Theorists like Roy C Mac gave weightage to comparative view in his publication, “The study of comparative
govt., 1955”. In the same year Riggs came out with an important paper “The impact of technical assistance
on the teachings of CPA”.
Also, American military faced problems during the WW-II while operating in various countries and subsequently
the cold war politics and reconstructional programs like “point 4 programme”, “Colombo Plan” etc. required
an insight and proper understanding of the institutions, structures and their functioning in developing countries.
Thus American scholar and practioners were encouraged to study administrative sub-system within the developing
societies. Similarly, UN as sponsored many programmes and studies with a view to gain insight into the
developing countries administrative systems.
Two major developments within this period that gave a concrete look to the Comparative Politics Group of
the Social Science Research and Comparative Administrative Group (CAG) of the American Association of
Public Administration Scholars. Both of these studies had similar orientations because of the affinity of the
subject matter of the two disciplines i.e. political science and Groups, membered by Gabriel Almond, Leonard
Binder, Lucian Pye, Joseph La Palombara, N. Weiner, studied bureaucracy from a comparative perspective as
a subordinate of politics. The efforts were complemented by the CAG, set up in 1962-63, under the chairmanship
of Fred Riggs.
CAG came out with valuable conceptual, methodological and theoretical orientations on CPA. Africa, Latin
America, Europe and Asia.
Certain Subject matters that is focused were:
The effect of all these events, started off a new orientation to generate law and generalized principles in order
to increase the claim of PA, as being Science. Such orientation has been well documented by Robert Jackson,
as under:
(a) A broad agreement among scholars seem to be that there are patterns of administrative behaviour which
are susceptible to rigorous systematic analysis i.e. capable of being drawn into a body of theory.
(b) The scientific study of PA requires exploration of administration patterns in the cross-cultural and cross-
national contexts.
(c) The empirical findings resulting from such cross cultural studies should be subjected to systematic,
comparative analysis.
(d) Such comparative analysis will lead to the derivation of hypothesis about admin patterns on various levels
of generality, having different degrees of applicability and universality. Such propositions could then be
integrated into the general theory of PA.
This orientation was also visible in the works of Ferrel Heady, Guy peters, Esman, Nimkoff etc.
CPA also used various, typologies of methodologies that was visible during 70’s and or wards i.e. Politico-
Economic Approach, Dependency Approach, Neo-Marxist Approach, Comparative Public Policy Approach,
Development Approach, etc.
Though, three major approaches in CPA are:
1. Gureaucratic Approach.
2. General Systems Approach.
3. Development Administration.
Comparative approach of 50’s, 60’s, 70’s is also significant for positivistic behavioural orientation. It laid stress
on analyzing human behaviour from cross national perspective, objectively, empirically and scientifically.
Late 70’s and 80’s also signified certain major empirical comparative studies under-taken by some Indian and
foreign scholars related to bureaucratic behaviour in different cultural and national settings. Theorists like
Robert Presthus, Michael Crocier, Morroe Berger and Indians like CP Bhambri, Kuldeep Mathur, Pai Panandikar,
Shannti Kothari, undertook comparative studies to provide a major shift in 80’s, which subsequently under the
influence of post-behavioural approach i.e. value and normative orientations was taken account of by certain
theorists like O.P. Dwivedi, Heady, Charles Goodsell, that tried to re-uitalise CPA by incorporating supra-
national, supra-cultural, sub-national, sub-cultural orientation into PA.
This movement is known as New Comparative Public Administration movement. The approach has continued
to influence the future developments of PA.
Paul H. Appleby, said that comparing and contrasting administrative setups in different context, helps to
develop commonality in PA and reveals the important factors which helps in promotion of administrative
effectiveness. Also as Nimrod Raphaeli says “Comparative study helps us in knowing as to why administration
system of one country has succeeded, while that of others have failed”.

Development Administration
DEFINIITION:
DA is a complex phenomenon which has to be understood in a broader perspective of social change. It came
to be known as an action-oriented, goal oriented system with capacity to transform societies from backwardness
to modernity.

NEW FOCUS:
New focus of DA is on opting for indigenous models of development instead of following the standard
prescriptions of the West. Besides social, economic, political, the cultural and organizational contexts, the
temporal and spatial dimensions occupy an important place.

BACKGROUD:
The process of decolonization that followed the World War II led to the emergence of ew nation states in Asia,
Africa and Latin America, Which acquired the self-governing status. These countries often labeled as “developing
countries” were faced with acite problems of social disorganization, economic depression and administrative
confusion. They had twinfold activities to perform (a) Nation-building, (b) Socio-economic progress.
Despite the differences in their culture, level of economic and political advancement, development was conceived
by them as a jprocess that combined economic growth and modernization. The mainstream consensus on the
meaning of development in the developing countries was based on certain assumptions. The state was seen as
a benevolent institutions and the principal instrument of their development. There was a strong belief that a
pro-active state alone could facilitate balanced development which required the “control of main levers of
“public policy”. It was also believed that “development decisions should be in the hands of the technocratic
planners, protected by enlightened, modernizing political leaders. Bureaucracy was conceived as the main
vehicle of modern administration.
Generally shared conception of DA according to Milton Estam “was, much f the change desired today must
be induced and therefore managed”. In short development must be administered.
The growing scale and complexity of administrative problems and the expanding role of the state in promoting
and guiding development led to the conceptualization of the administrative process involved in development
activities as “Development Administration”.
Hence the DA conceived traditionally was an era of state led, bureaucracy-directed and expert guided
development enterprise.

CONCEPTUAL PARADIGM:
The pioneering effort of Prof. Edward Weidner in conceptualizing the development administration (DA) as a
distinct category in his work “DA : A new focus for research” is commendable. Substantial contributions in
terms of generons sponsorships were made by organisation such as East-West Centre, Comparative Administrative
Group (CAG) and the Ford Foundation towards expanding the concerns of DA.
Scholars motably, Riggs, Heady, Montgomery, Esman, Lucian Pye articulated the concept and it’s implications
chiefly as a byproduct of their comparative studies of administration in developing countries.

MAJOR THEMES:
Major Themes of “Administrative development” and “development administration” elaborated by members
of CAG tried to figure out the way in which the institutional infrastructure in the Thgird World countries could
convert inputs of objectives into developmental outputs i.e. economic growth. They believed that the economic
growth by reducing poverty and treating a society of abundance would provide support to liberal democracy
and lesson the chance of “Communist take over” of these countries.
Hence DA which crystalliced as a movement for transplanting advanced administrative techniques and knowledge
to developing countries to help them plan and implement economic development was linked to the strategy
of “Containment”.

PROCESS:
(a) Development Administration.
(b) Augmenting Administrative Capabilities.
Fred Riggs, catagoricaly stated that the development administration referred not only to a government’s efforts
to carry out programmes designed to reshape it’s physical, human and cultural environment but also to the
structure to enlarge a government’s capacity to engage in such programmes.
According to Donald C. Stone “DA is blending of all elements and resources (human and physical)… into a
concerted effort to achieve agreed-upon goals. It is continuous cycle of formulating, evaluating and implementing
interrelated plans, policies, programmes, projects, activities and other measures to reach established development
objectives in a scheduled time sequence.

CHARACTERISTICS OF BUREAUCRACY IN DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION:

The above characteristics of DA implicity referred to rationalization, in other words weberianisation of bureaucracy.
Developmental Bureaucracy was professional, competent and was guided by a set of politically neutral,
generalisable and replicable technieques that could produce efficiency, economy and effectiveness in implementing
public policies decided by responsible political leadership. It was esseutially a theory of organization built upon
the tradition of politics administration dichotomy, and a set of principles as hierarchy, division of work, unity
of command, span of control and co-ordination that were universally applicable to all cultures and regions.
CONCLUSIONS:
The expectation that economic growth would take care of the distributive issues by gradually absorbing the
traditional peripheries was not realized in DA, Hierarchically organized, functionally specialized bureaucracy
was ill-suited to the needs of the diverse constitumenices in the developing countries. Strategies are peculiar
products of individual nations and each nation must tailor out it’s strategy in keeping with the combination of
it’s spatial variables. It can be federalism, regionalization, participatory, decentralization or their combination.
Cultural differences in understanding the needs of DA is needed. The contention is not to say that western
administrative doctrvies are universally irrelevant to non-western governments. The essence of the argument
is that there are same peculiar characteristics of political and socio-cultural system which seriously restrict the
relevance to their problems of the administrative practices that have been found to be quite useful in the Wst.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to give up the ethno-cultric model of development and appreciate the role
of local tradition, culture, style of governance. The developing countries must opt for indigenous models of
development instead of following the standard prescriptions of the west.
Gandhiji visualized a living where “life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom”.
His conception of never ‘ascending circles’ clearly outline the objective and end of participatory development.
David Korton, who was worked widely among the poverty population, has distinguished between two contrasting
visions:
Growth centred development. (GCD)
People contred development. (PCD)
‘GCD’ has it’s origin in theelite ideology of neo-liberal economics that has been forcefully advanced economics
that has been forcefully advanced through institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and GATT.
‘PCD’ is a concept being advanced by citizen’s organizations working to create an alternative world order based
on economic justice, environmental sustainability and political inclusiveness.
COUNTER DEVELOPMENT THESIS:
In 1960’s and 1970’s, disappointment at the failure of the tricle down effect of economic development inspired
some social scientists to think of an alternative, non-western practice.
PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT:
The concept of counter-development was formulated as an alternative, the basic ideal of which is a group of
poor-people, organized on self-help basis and aided to some extent by change agents, could agree on collective
action and operate co-operative economic projects for the benefit of their own members. “South Asian
Commission on Poverty Alleviation” reporting in 1992 pointed out the shift from state-led development to
local community-based development after being disillusioned with the working of the political system and the
administrative machinery and the constraints operating within the state.
TYPES OF COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS:
Anisur Rahman has observed/identified different forms of community organizations, representing collective
action by the underprivileged people to improve their socio-economic conditions:
1. Economic in nature, undertaking income generating activities.
2. Pressure group activities, asserting economic, social and human rights including women’s rights.
3. Social and cultural activities in areas as health, education, culture.
4. Promoting holistic life, integrating spiritual advancement with economic and social development.
5. Community organizations promoting ecologically oriented socio-economic life.
6. Participatory Action Research activities, to develop people’s own thinking about their living conditions and
environment.
As the development paradigm shifted, especially after the Earth Summit of 1992, to integrate local communities
as key actors in defining development priorities, models based on participation, knowledge sharing and two-way
communication began to emerge streadily.
The participatory development mode rest on certain assumptions. One basic assumption is the presence of a
positive political will at the higher level favouring community participation.
Second assumption is the willingness on the part of field bureaucracy to part away with power and lend a
helping hand to local community efforts.
Taking India as until of analysis, participatory development can be approached in two ways:

Contribution of Riggs
FOCUS:
Riggs has concentrated on the study of administrative systems in developing, or transitional or Prismatic
societies.
To explain the ecology of administrative system of such socielies he constructed the prismatic-sala model.
He used ecological and structural functional approach.
The Ecology of Administration
When Riggs and others speak of an ecological approach to the comparative study of administration, they are
recommending that a systematic effort be made to relate public administration to its environment, in much the
same way that the science of ecology is concerned with the mutual relations between organisms and their
environment. Of course, social institutions are not living organisms, so the parallel is at most suggestive.
The point is that bureaucracies, as well as other political and administrative institutions, can be better understood
if the surrounding conditions, influences, and forces that shape and modify them are identified and ranked to
the extent possible in the order of relative importance.
The environment of bureaucracy may be visualized as a series of concentric circles, with bureaucracy at the
center. The smallest circle generally has the most decisive influence, and the larger circles represent a descending
order of importance as far as bureaucracy is concerned. We may visualize the largest circle as representing all
of society or the general social system. The next circle represent the economic system or the economic aspects
of the social system. The inner circle is the political system; it encloses the administrative subsystem and the
bureaucracy as one of its elements.
Without undertaking any full exploration of the ecology of public administration, we can try to pick out the
environmental factors impinging on bureaucracy that would seem to be most helpful in answering the question
posed earlier regarding bureaucracies. Comparative analysis makes a preliminary classification of the nation-
states in which these bureaucracies function, based on the environmental factors that are deemed to be most
decisive.
The basic categories employed here are not original; they are already widely known and used. The first
classification is “developed” and “developing” societies, referring to clusters of characteristics, primarily of a
social and economic nature, that are identified with development as contrasted to underdevelopment or partial
development. This is a classification based on the outer environmental circles with consequences for the
bureaucracy that may be considered secondary. The second classification is one of political systems using types
that have been suggested by student of comparative politics for both the developed and the developing
countries. These political system differences are assumed to encompass environmental factors that have the
most direct and consequential effects ob bureaucracies.
“Development” as a criterion for classification admittedly has many drawback. The meaning of development
often is not precisely defined, and the very term itself has invidious implication. Milton Esman captures the
essential theme when he says: “development denotes a major societal transformation, a change in system
states, along the continuum from peasant and pastoral to industrial organization. The assimilation and
institutionalization of modern physical and social technology are critical ingredients. These qualitative changes
affect values, behavior, social structure, economic organization and political process.” In terms employed by
sociologists such as Talcott Parsons who use a structural-functional approach to study social systems, the more
traditional, less developed societies would tend to be predominantly ascriptive, particularistic, and diffuse.
In other words, they would confer status based on birth or inherited station rather than personal achievement;
they would favor a narrow base rather than more generalized bases for making social decisions; and given social
structures would be likely to perform a large number of functions rather than a few More developed modern
societies, on the hand, would tend to be achievement oriented, universalistic, and specific.
The word “developing,” referring to the countries that are under-going this process of social transformation,
seems preferable to such alternative adjectives as “backward,” “poor,” “undeveloped,” “underdeveloped,” “less
developed,” “emerging,” “transitional,” and even “expectant.” This profusion of terms has led to the facetious
comment that the terminology develops faster than do the developing countries. We shall consider “developing,”
“emerging,” and “transitional,” as acceptable and more or less interchangeable.
The concept of development does not purport to short societies into classes of opposites, but only to locate
them along a continuum. Our interest is to compare countries that are commonly placed toward the upper end
of a scale of development with some of those rated as less developed. The group of countries generally
conceded to be highly of fully developed is quite small compared to the total number of existing nation states,
and these countries are geographically concentrated. They include Great Britain and a few members of the
British Commonwealth, such as Canada and Australia, most of the countries of western continental Europe,
the United States, the U.S.R., and only Japan among the nations of the so-called non-Western world.
The overwhelming majority of present day countries will fall into the “developing” category, although this does
not, of course, imply that they are all at a common level of development.
Models of Administrative Systems
Social scientists have suggested using models, corresponding to real world phenomena, to guide investigation
and analysis of administrative practices that actually prevail in existing polities. A well-chosen model highlights
general characteristics and their interrelationships in a way that facilitates the gathering and interpretation of
data about whatever subject matter is being studied. The inevitability of using models of some kind for
systematic study of any topic has often been pointed out. The problem lies in choosing a model that matches
reality closely enough to aid comprehending it.
We do have proposed models for the conduct of public administration and the operations of bureaucracy in
both the developed and developing countries. The Weberian or “classic” model of bureaucracy applies essentially
to the countries of Western Europe, which are the prototypes for developed or modernized polities.
For developing countries, the most elaborate model has been formulated by Riggs in his “sala” administrative
subsystem in the “prismatic” model for transitional societies. Let us review the main features of these models
and comment briefly on their utility in explaining the information we have concerning bureaucracies in a range
of developed and developing countries.
The classic model of bureaucracy not only incorporates the essential structural characteristics that have been
postulated as definitive of bureaucracy as a form of organization-hierarchy, network of interrelated characteristics,
both structural and behavioral, which identify bureaucracy of this type. An underlying assumption is that the
pattern of authority, which lends legitimacy to the system, will be legal-rational rather than traditional or
charismatic, and that within the bureaucracy rational means will be used to comply with the commands of the
legitimate authority. Bureaucracy is above all a form of organization dedicated to the concept of rationality,
and to the conduct of administration on the basis of relevant knowledge. This calls for a series of arrangements.
Recruitment is based on achievement as demonstrated competitively rather than on ascription, and similar
criteria are to determine subsequent movement within the bureaucracy. Service in the bureaucracy is a career
for professionals, who are salaried and have tenured status, subject to discipline or removal only on specified
grounds following specified procedures. Administrative roles are highly specialized and differentiated; spheres
of competence are well-defined and hierarchical-relationships are thoroughly understood. The bureaucracy is
not an autonomous unit in the political system but is responsive to external controls from legitimized political
authority, although there are tendencies within the bureaucracy toward evasion and self-direction.
This simplified model has been widely used to guide-descriptions of, and comparisons among, bureaucracies
in modern nation-states, even though is does not accurately depict any of them. The closeness of fit varies
among political system subtypes in the modernized polities. The greatest conformity is in such bureaucracies
as those in Germany and France, which we have designated as “classic” bureaucracies. The model is essentially
acceptable when it is applied to numberous other developed countries with a Western political tradition,
including not only Great Britain and the United States but also Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and several
of the small European countries. As we move away from these developed but which are more removed from
the Western European political orbit, this classic model becomes increasingly less applicable. In the two cases
to be examined here Japan and the U.S.S.R. the divergences are substantial, but the model is still helpful for
purposes of comparison.
When bureaucracies in the developing countries become the object of attention, however, the apparent that it
is nearly always abandoned in favor of models chosen because they are presumed to correspond much more
closely to actuality in these societies. An outstanding example is the “prismatic-sal” combination proposed by
Riggs. No brief summary can do justice to the intricacies of this model or familiarize the uninitiated with the
specialized vocabulary used in presenting it, but we can indicate its dimensions and implications.
There is some ambiguity concealing the link Riggs sees’ between the prismatic model and existing societies.
“Fused” and “diffracted” societies are models constructed deductively from contrasting assumptions about the
relationship between structures and the number of functions they perform. A structure is “functionally diffuse”
when it performs a large number of functions, “functionally specific” when it performs a limited number of
functions. The “Fused” hypothetical model is of a society in which all component structures are highly diffuse;
in the “diffracted” model component structures are highly specific. These models cannot be found in the real
world, but they “can serve a heuristic purpose by helping us to describe real world situations.” Some real world
societies may resemble the fused model others the diffracted.
The “prismatic” model is of the same hypothetical type as the fused and the diffracted. Designed to represent
an intermediate situation between the fused and diffracted ends of a continuum, it combines relatively also,
there may be societies that have characteristics resembling those of the model. Logically speaking, it would
seem quite plain that no actual society would be either completely fused or completely diffracted; all would
be to some degree prismatic in the sense of being intermediate` On a scale measuring the degree of functional
specificity of structures, presumably the pure prismatic model represents a society that is midpoint between
the fused and diffracted model, although this is not made entirely clear.
Although Riggs stresses the deductive nature of these models, he also emphasizes their relevance for understanding
phenomena in real societies. He has been “fascinated by the prismatic model not only as an intellectual game
but also as a device that might eventually help us understand more about administrative behavior in transitional
societies,” The relevance of the prismatic model to administration in developing countries is what interests us
here.
The prismatic model in its entirety deals with the full range of social phenomena and behavior, subsuming
political and administr4ative aspects. In other words, it is a model pertaining to the ecology for administration
in a type of society. This model is “intrinsically paradoxical.” Riggs examines the economic sector (describing
it as a “bazaar-canteen” pattern), the elite groupings (“kaleidoscopic stratification”), social structures, symbol
systems, and political power patterns. He then turns more specifically to public administration in prismatic
society, and evolves the “sala” model for the administrative subsystem. In line with the general configuration
of the prismatic model, administrative functions in such a society “may be performed both by concrete
structures oriented primarily toward this function and also by other structures lacking this primary orientation.”
Such a situation calls for an alternative to conventional ways of thinking about the conduct of public
administration, since these are related to experience in Western societies, which are closer to the diffracted
model. Riggs suggests a choice of terms to indicate the locus of bureaucratic action in each of the three
models, as well as a general term to cover them all. He chooses “bureau for the more comprehensive purpose,
and suggests “chamber” to denote the fused bureau, and “office” the diffracted one. For the prismatic bureau,
he employs the Spanish word “sala,” which is widely used in Latin America and elsewhere to refer to various
kinds of rooms, including government offices, thus suggesting that “interlocking mixture of the diffracted office
and the fused chamber which we can identify as the prismatic bureau.”
The profile of administration in the sala drawn by Riggs rests basically on his treatment of the power structure
in prismatic society. He finds that the scope of bureaucratic power, in the sense of the range of the values
affected, is only intermediate in the prismatic setting, but that the weight of bureaucratic power (referring to
the extent of participation in making decisions) is very heavy as compared to either the fused or diffracted
models. This is particularly so in polities that have patterned their bureaucratic systems after more diffracted
foreign examples. Rates of political and bureaucratic growth are imbalanced in prismatic society. There the
bureaucracy has the advantage in competition with the political institutions, which might be better able to
control the bureaucracy in more diffracted societies, whether pluralistic or totalitarian. The weight of bureaucratic
power in prismatic society tempts bureaucrats to interfere in the political process.
A second and corollary proposition concerning prismatic administration is that the heavy weight of bureaucratic
power lowers administrative efficiency, in the sense of cost relative to accomplishment, ministrative efficiency,
in the sense of cost relative to accomplishment, with the result that such an administration is less efficient than
that in either a fused or a diffracted system. The sala associated with unequal distribution of services,
institutionalized corruption, inefficiency in rule application, nepotism in recruitment, bureaucratic enclaves
dominated by motives of self-protection, and in general, a pronounced gap between formal expectations and
actual behavior. Administration in the sala model is “basically wasteful and prodigal.” Many factors combine
in prismatic society to “highten administrative profligacy.” Riggs concedes that this is a “gloomy view” but
maintains it is one which “seems to grow out the logic of the prismatic model.” It should be noted that Riggs
does not make any claim about how well the sala model fits any existing transitional society; indeed he
emphasizes a need to research the extent to which the sala attributes actually are found in particular developing
countries. All he asserts is that his model-building effort “rests on a substratum of empiricism.”
WHY THE USE OF ECOLOGICAL MODEL:
Fred Riggs felt that Max Weber’s ideal type construct of bureaucracy is not relevant to the developing and
transitional societies. Weber’s assumption of a relatively autonomous administrative system, unaffected by the
changing dynamics of the society has been a drawback. As the real situation of social functioning is not always
stable and political conditions have a giant effect on the administrative sub-system, ecological approach is a
necessity.
The need for the study of ecology of administration was emphasized by John M. Gauss, Roscoe Martin,
Robert A. Dahl and Fred Riggs.
Fred Riggs observed that only those studies are really comparative in nature that are empirical, nomothetic and
ecological.
What is Structural-Functional Approach:
• Social structure is any pattern of behaviour which has become a standard feature of the social system.
• It may be, concrete (specific structure) & Analytic (Theoretical construct).
• Structure performs certain functions.
• Function is a pattern of inter-dependence between two or more structures.
• A single structure may perform many functions, or a single function can be performed by many structures.
• Riggs identified five functional requisites:
Economic, Social, Communicational, Symbolic, Political.

Prismatic Model
BASES OF CLASSIFICATION:
1. Social structures may be called functionally fused, it they perform a large number of functions.
2. Social structures may be called functionally specific it they carryout specific functions.
Riggs called the functionally diffuse society as fused and functionally specific ones diffracted. He created
another category in between the two and called it as Prismatic. These were ideal constructs and were not
to be found in actual societies. Actual social systems can only be approximating any of these theoretical
constructs.

METHODOLOGY:
Riggs used the Talcott Parsons, pattern variables to describe the characteristics of prismatic society.
1. Use of Universalism-particularism variables, Riggs said that diffracted system would rank high towards
universalism and a fused system would be particularistic. The prismatic system would be ‘selectivism’
Which lies between universalism and particularism.
2. Using achievement ascription. Riggs created an intermediate category of attainment. It means that elite
status or any-other valuable position in the society can be obtained partly by achievement and partly by
ascription.
3. Using Functional Specificity and Diffuseness. Riggs used polyfunctionalism to describe the situation in
prismatic society. Polyfunctionalism is a concept that describes that the institutions in the society perform
a number of functions.
As Riggs coined these intermediate terms, the cautioned that co-relations between these variables is a
matter of empirical observations and not any theortical formulation. The focus of his model is a study
of certain key elements and social structures in prismatic society and their inter-connection with “Sala”
i.e. the administrative sub-system in that society. Treatment of fused and diffracted society in the analysis
of Riggs is rather formal. These systems have been described to the extent that they are relevent to the
development of the concept of the prismatic society.
BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PRISMATIC SOCIETY:
1. Heterogeneity: It is characterised by the simultaneous presence, side by side, of quite different kinds of
systems, practices, beliefs and view points. This is the outcome of uneven social change. e.g. prevelance
of modern social organisations along with rigid traditional structures as well.
2. Formalism: The discrepancy that exists between the formal and actual roles of institutions denotes the
level of formalism. The degree of congruence between the formal and actual roles of institutions denotes
the degree of realism. Difracted society is known for comparatively autonomous working of its institutions.
Fused society on the other hand combines almost all the functions in the one post i.e. the chief.
In prismatic society, actual official behaviour does not correspond to the rules, regulations, legal statutes
and prescribed norms. Public servants have lot of discretion.
3. Overlapping: It refers to the extent to which formally differentiated structures of a diffracted society can
co-exist with undifferentiated structures of a fused society. Overlapping has several dimensions as nepotism,
polycommunalism, existence of elects, lack of consencus, reparation of authority from control.
4. Nepotism: In prismatic society formal structure is super-imposed over the social system based an family
and kinship. Usually the basis of relection isprescribed by partisan groups. This gives through discretion
for the use of extra-legal methods.
5. Poly-Communalism: In a prismatic society, simultaneous existence in the society of various religious and
racial groups which live in a relatively hostile inter-connection with each other is found. This leads to the
formation of clects. The public servant owes greater obedience to his community, rather than the
government. So, there is a situation of “Sala” “Clect” combine, Which may lead to corruption and
administrative inefficiency.
6. Bazaar-Canteen Model: Factor of market (diffracted society) and arena (fused) operate simultaneously
in a prismatic society. Services are provided to the dominant community at lower rate (subsidized) and to
the members of outside clets (outside community) higher rates (tributary). Price indeterminancy prevails
in the society. It affects the taxes, rebates and revenues. This types of economic sub-system leads to lower
mobilization of resources and leads to administrative corruption, and nexus of bureaucrats and price
distortors.
7. Poly-normativism (Lack of concensus): In a prismatic society there is a lack of consensus on norms of
behaviour in different sections of society. “Sala” officials public behaviour is objective, universalistic,
achievement oriented norms, but in reality they follow ascriptive, subjective and particularistic norms.
Even the citizens behaviour correspond to lack of consemsus. They are ready to disregard rules for their
benefit, but they expect public officials to be honest and follow rules and norms.
8. Power distribution: Authority V/s Control: Prismatic society is characterized by centralized authority,
whereas overlapping control system is highly dispersed (uneven) and localized (far-away). Such overlapping
influences relationships between patricians and administrators. This gives rise to phenomenon of political
interference in the administrative sphere.
Riggs conceptualized this phenomenon as “unbalanced polity”. He said power equation is more favourable
towards bureaucrats. This resulted in lack of responsiveness to the people, nepotism, inefficient administration.
“Sala” culture or behaviour according to Riggs is generally Corrupt and Wasteful.
 SELF-HELP GROUP MOVEMENT
Mechanics of Self-help Groups (SHGs)
Saving is one exercise that rural poor seldom engage in or rather cannot afford to engage in. Whatever meagre
amount a poor individual or a single household can even afford to save, will not be able to make a remarkable
difference in the individual’s life. So, casting a positive impact on the rural economic cycle through such
individual saving schedule is unthinkable. This saving schedule also cannot continue for very long to enable the
saver to reach the level of investment in face of perpetual consumption needs in case the economic operations
are at a subsistence level. For self-reliance and reduced dependence on financial institution, a strong saving
programme is essential. Thus, group savings can serve a wider range of objectives other than immediate
investment. It inculcates a sense of prioritizing on the expenditure agenda and practice thrift and economy at
the same time. Besides serving the purpose of a saving cushion to cover the individual’s risk against normal
business risks, natural calamities, diseases and other emergent needs, a common fund enables the members to
acquire expertise in money management and financial discipline. The acquired experience also encourages the
group members to take up larger projects, on a collective basis in future.
The SHGs in India are small, informal and homogenous groups of not more than twenty members each, who
come together for addressing their common problems. The groups are kept informal to minimize their association
with bureaucracy and corruption, unnecessary administrative expenditure and profit constraints. The size of
twenty is devised as any group large than that would need to be registered under the Indian legal system and
that brings a whole range of regulatory constraints (Harper, 2002). The members of SHGs are encouraged to
make voluntary thrift on a regular basis. During this period, the groups are expected to open a savings account
with a financial institution, which would like to extend credit.
After accumulating a reasonable amount of resources, the group starts lending to its members. They use this
pooled resource to make small interest bearing loans to their members. The process helps them imbibe the
essentials of financial intermediation including prioritization of needs, setting terms and conditions and accounts
keeping. This gradually builds financial discipline and credit history for themselves, as the money involved in
the lending operations is their own hard earned many saved over time with great difficulty. This is ‘warm
money’. They also learn to handle resources of a size that is much beyond their individual capacities. As the
group members develop the experience of handling resources, understand the value of credit and the importance
of repayment and accountability to the group it can approach the financial institution for term loans. The group
becomes jointly liable to the bank for repayment and it is expected to assume responsibility in monitoring the
members. This is the “peer pressure” which acts as a collateral in case of SHG banking.
Thus, thrift and saving are supposed to be good starting points for group formations called Self-Help Groups
(SHGs), which can soon ensure to be credit groups. It is this understanding, which prompted the governmental
and voluntary agencies to promote SHGs among the rural poor with the aim of helping them save, collect and
manage their funds, and help one another by way of credit from their own funds. SHGs are financial intermediaries
owned by the poor that rely on social collateral and its many enabling and cost-reducing effects are a feature
of microfinance. It is possible to distinguish between groups that are primarily geared to deliver financial
services provided by microfinance institutions to individual borrowers (such as the joint liability groups of
Grameen and the NGO-banks of Bangladesh); and the groups, which mobilize savings and deliver their accumulated
savings as credit and externally leveraged funds to their members.
In India, the SHGs fall within the latter category of groups. A distinction can be made between different types
of SHGs according to their origin and sources of funds. Several SHGs have been carved out of larger groups,
formed under pre-existing NGO programmes for thrift and credit or more broad-based activities. Some have
been promoted by NGOs within the parameters of bank-linkage scheme but as a part of an integrated development
programme. Banks and the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) have promoted the others.
Still others have been formed as a component of various physical and social infrastructure projects. Broadly,
SHGs in India are initiated by a development agency (such as an NGO, state development department, or
bilateral and multilateral agency) for a purposeful development intervention.
The programme of SHGs is mainly credit-based and subsidy is just small and supportive part. There is no upper
limit of investment in this scheme. This programme makes provision for extending help in the form of grants
and revolving fund. The loans are given away to the groups by banks, which in turn get their share through
refinance aid from NABARD under the rules and regulations of the automatic Refinance Facility of NABARD.
The rate of interest will be determined accordingly by the RBI/NABARD. These loans can be given for
marketing services, advertising, processing, transportation, packaging, labeling capacity building etc. In case of
revolving funds, the aid will be given on a selective basis to the NGOs and Voluntary Agencies, which are
unable to access loans through banking channel.
Characteristics of SHGs
Self-Help Group is generally an economically homogeneous group formed through a process of self-selection
with membership ranging between 10 and 20. SHGs have well defined rules and by laws, hold regular meetings
and maintain records, savings and credit discipline. These are self-managed institutions characterized by
participatory and collective decision-making. They usually start by making voluntary thrift on a regular basis,
which are a form of contractual savings. They use this pooled resource (as quasi-equity) together with the
external bank loan to provide interest-bearing loans to their members. Such loans provide additional liquidity
or purchasing power for use in any of the borrower’s production, investment, or consumption activities.
SHGs broadly have three stages of evolution viz., (a) Group formation to evolve into a self managed peoples’
organisation at grassroots level (b) Linkage with banks and capital formation through the revolving fund, skill
development for management and activity; and (c) Taking an economic activity for income generation.
Under SGSY an SHG has following characteristics:
1. An SHG may consist of 10-20 members. In the case of minor irrigation and in the case of disabled
persons, the number may be a minimum of five.
2. All members of the groups should belong to the families below poverty line.
3. The group shall not consist of more than one member from the same family.
4. A person shall not be a member of more than one group.
5. Group members usually create a common fund by contributing their small savings on a regular basis.
6. Groups evolve flexible systems of working (sometimes with the help of the (SHPI) and manage pooled
resources in a democratic manner.
7. Groups consider the loan requests in periodic meetings and competing claims on limited resources are
settled by consensus.
8. Loans are mainly given on trust with minimum documentation and without any security.
9. The loan amounts small, frequent, issued for short duration and are mainly for unconventional purposes.
10. The rates of interest vary from group to group and the purpose of loan. It is higher than that of banks
but lower than that of moneylenders.
11. At periodic meetings, besides collecting money, social and economic issues are also discussed.
12. The group should maintain on its own or with the help of the facilitator the basic records such as minutes
book, cash-book, loan ledger, attendance register, general ledger, bank pass-book and individual pass-book.
13. Defaults are rare due to the ‘collateral’ of peer pressure and intimate knowledge of the use of credit.
14. By and large, the SHG will be an informal group. However, the groups can also register themselves under
the Societies Registration Act, the State Co-operative Act or a Partnership Firm Act. The SHGs can be
further stabilized and strengthened by forming federation of groups.
Thus, Self-help Group is a voluntary group valuing personal interaction and mutual aid as means of altering
or ameliorating problems. The SHGs offer a unique opportunity for dispensing cheap credit (complementing
the existing banking system) at the doorstep of the poor with almost assured repayment at the terms and
requirements of the poor. The SHGs follow collective decision-making on issues like meetings, thrift and
credit decisions. The participative nature of the group makes it a responsible borrower.

Granding of the SHGs

The formation stage generally takes six months. It is necessary to subject each SHG to a test whether it has
evolved into a good group and is ready to get into the next stage of evolution. This is done through a grading
exercise to identify the weaknesses if any and help the group to overcome the same. Grading of the group
should enable the DRDAs to establish linkages for the good groups with banks. Grading exercise ought to be
taken every quarter till such time that all the groups obtain a good grade. The first grading has to be done after
six months of the formation of SHGs to ensure bank linkage of successful groups and making revolving fund
available to them. The groups are ranked as successful on the basis of the parameters such as size of SHG,
saving capacity, meetings and attendance, tendency of loan seeking and repayment, and record maintenance.

SHGs and Revolving Fund

Although small groups help enhancement of managerial skills through active participation of members in all
the activities of the group, it also results in the disadvantage of a very small resource or capital base as the
all members are poor with capacities to save very small amounts. Moreover, vertical mobility on the economic
ladder is extremely difficult for the people living below poverty line. Often, the concerned Self-Help Promoting
Institution (SHPI) supplement the resources of the SHG by providing some seed capital, in the form of grant
or interest free-loan, to be used as a revolving fund by the SHG. There are two conditions for group to get this
revolving fund: (i) it should have been in existence for a period of 6 months (ii) it should demonstrate the
potential of a viable group. DRDA then provides the revolving fund to such groups out of the 10 percent of
SGSY-Revolving Fund.
Revolving fund can be formed through membership fee, interest earned on saving and loan of the members
or by aid from the bank/external agencies, penalty etc. A ratio of 1:3 between the saving of the group and
grant provided by external agencies is essential.

SHGs and Bank Linkage

The major issues confronting the formal rural credit agencies had always been high transaction costs, tiny
savings, reduced margins and profits, less viability, poor monitoring and recovery, growing non-performing
assets. Against the backdrop of similar problems, the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh set up an effective model
to deal with rural credit problems. It developed highly effective techniques like taking services to the village
level, promoting and motivating groups of the poor, use of group guarantees, compulsory savings mobilization,
intensive supervision of borrowers, and decentralized and cost-effective operations, for lending to the poor.
The success story of this model inspired other such nations facing rural poverty syndrome and-credit delivery
crisis.
Simultaneously, international concern to evolve new concepts of banking triggered off policy dialogues between
the Asian and Pacific Regional Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) and Gesellschaft furTechnische
Zusammenarbeit (GTZ-Germany). On this international platform, it was felt that the traditional banking should
not ignore the creative human potential of the poor in Asia, as they are potential motor for grassroots
development. The following thesis became the entry point of SHG-Banking. It was proposed that providing the
rural poor with access to saving and credit services may stimulate their self help capacity and can be one
essential entry road to overcome poverty and address some of their crucial social concerns. Finally, in Kathmandu,
in 1986, an agreement was signed in order to undertake national level studies in existing Self-Help Groups of
the rural poor and to initiate project activities on “Promotion of Linkages between Banking Institutions and
Self-Help Groups in Rural Savings Mobilisation and Credit Delivery to the Rural Poor”.
In India, too, the problem of rural credit was manifested on multiple levels on both demand and supply sides.
The high level of dependence of the informal sector on non-institutional sources continued despite a rapid
growth of banking network in India in the last five decades. The rural financial system, at present, functions
through an impressively large network of more than 1,50,000 retail outlets. Despite such phenomenal expansion
of the outreach of the formal banking structure, the All India Debt and Investment Survey (GoI), 2001, gave
indications that the share of non-institutional agencies (informal sector) in the outstanding cash dues of the
rural households was quite high at 27 percent as against 18 percent in case of urban households. It was also
seen that households in the lower asset groups were more dependent on the non-institutional credit agencies.
The main hurdle faced by banks in financing the very poor seemed to be the comparatively high transaction
cost in reaching out to a large number of people who required very small doses of credit at frequent intervals.
The same held true of the costs involved in providing savings facilities to the small, scattered savers in the rural
areas. Feelings were mutual among the very small savers and borrowers in the rural areas as well, as they tended
to view banking as an institutional set up for the elite; even if they tried to reach the bank branch the long
distances and loss of earnings on being away from work while visiting bank branch were hurdles and they were
never sure whether they would get any service or not if they did approach the branch. The levels of mutual
inconvenience and discomfort made the poor look at banking as an almost inaccessible service, and the banks
felt the banking with the very poor was not a ‘bankable’ proposition.
It is in this background that National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) conducted
studies in the mid-eighties that brought out the simple fact that the most important and immediate banking
needs of the poor households, in the order of their priority were: (i) opportunities to keep safe their occasional
small surpluses in the form of thrift, (ii) access to consumption loans to meet emergent needs and (iii) hassle-
free access to financial services and products, including loans for micro-enterprises. Viewed against this demand,
there were serious limitations on the supply side, as the existing products and services of the banking system
were largely meant for a different type of customer segment. In trying to fulfil the credit needs of the poor
for financial services, the banks had to contend with regulated interest rates, high transaction costs and high cost
of mobilization of funds.
Congruity with human nature enhances the relevance and utility of human development initiatives. Based on
the studies mentioned above; the results of action research conducted and the concluding signals coming from
the international platform, NABARD took the initiating step in developing the Self Help Group-bank linkage
approach as the core strategy that could be used by the banking system in India for increasing their outreach
to the poor. The strategy involved forming. SHGs of the poor, encouraging them to pool their thrift regularly
and using the pooled thrift to make small interest bearing loans to members, and in the process learning the
nuances of financial discipline. Bank credit to such SHGs followed. Launched in 1992, early results achieved
by SHGs promoted by NGOs such as MYRADA, prompted NABARD to offer refinance to banks for collateral-
free loans to groups, progressively up to four times the level of group’s savings deposits.
Thus, SHG-Banking is a programme that helps to promote financial transactions between the formal rural
banking system in India comprising of public and private sector commercial banks, regional rural banks and
cooperative banks with the informal SHGs as clients. SHG-Banking through Self-help Groups and the existing
decentralized formal banking network including several organizations in the formal and non-formal sectors as
banking partners allows for large-scale outreach of micro finance services to the poor in India. These banking
services (depositing savings, taking loans) are made available at low cost, are easily accessible and flexible
enough to meet poor people’s needs. Linking SHGs directly promoted by an NGO or DRDA can access a
multiple of savings in the form of loan funds or cash credit limit from the local rural bank. The SHG onlends
the funds it accesses from banks to its members.
This programme encompasses broad models of linkage.
Different Models
Model I: Bank-SHG-Members: In this model the bank itself promotes and nurtures the SHGs until they reach
maturity. It accounted for 16 percent of cumulative bank loan provided till the end of March 2002.
Model II: Bank-Facilitating Agency-SHG-Members: Here groups are formed and supported by Government
agencies or NGOs. Being a dominant model it accounted for 75 percent of cumulative loans of banks by
March 2002.
Model III: Bank-NGO-MFI-SHG-Members: In this model NGOs act as both facilitators and Micro Finance
Intermediaries, and often federate SHGs into apex organisations to facilitate inter-group lending and larger
access to funds. Cumulative bank loans through this channel were 9 percent of total by March 2002.
The SHGs formed under the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana follow Model II of bank-linkage. However,
it should be noted that the bank linkage model in any form is a savings-led model and the SHG must have a
minimum savings period of 6 months prior to the availability of bank credit. The quantum of credit available
to SHGs starts from parity with saving and can increase to eight times the level of SHG savings. The SHG-
bank linkage model provides the cheapest and most direct source of funds. However, this has to be set against
the low volume of funds that are available through this channel in view of the linkage of credit with SHG
savings. Moreover, the attractiveness of the SHG as a micro-bank serving its members arises from the low-cost
retailing option it provides as the linkage permits the reduction of transaction costs of banks through the
externalization of costs of servicing individual loans and also ensuring their repayment through the peer
pressure mechanism.
Empowerment and Self-help Groups
A broad-based understanding of poverty has emerged over the last several years, which recognises poverty as
much more than mere economic deprivation. This recognition, which links poverty as much with social and
political deprivation has led to the placement of empowerment and human development at the centre of all
development dialogue.
Empowerment is the most frequently used term in development dialogue today. It is also the most nebulous
and widely interpreted of concepts. It has simultaneously become a tool for analysis, as also an umbrella
concept to justify almost every conceivable development intervention (Deshmukh, Ranadive and Murthy,
2005). It is very difficult to define empowerment with a universally accepted definition. It is a holistic concept
and multidimensional in its approach covering almost every aspect of life. Stromquist (1993) identified four
interdependent dimensions of empowerment—cognitive, psychological, economic, and political.
Cognitive empowerment refers to knowledge about and understanding of, the conditions and causes of
subordination. Psychological empowerment relates to the self-esteem and self-confidence enabling powerless
individuals or to recognize their own power and to motivate those into action. Economic empowerment is the
ability, to earn and control economic resources. Political empowerment involves the ability to analyse one’s
world and to organize and mobilize for social change.
Empowerment can take place at a hierarchy of different levels—individual, household, community and societal—
and is facilitated by providing encouraging factors such as exposure to new activities, which can build capacities
and removing inhibiting factors for e.g. lack of resources and skills. Empowerment can thus be defined as the
process of enhancing individual or group capacity to make choices and transform those choices into desired
actions and outcomes Amartya Sen’s (1999) ‘development as freedom’ approach has been the starting point for
many recent definitions of empowerment. Sen opines that the goal of development is not to achieve a certain
set of indicators, but to increase choices and thereby ‘freedoms’. Thus, poverty according to Sen, is a form of
‘unfreedom’ characterised by the absence of choice, He popularised the notion that the work of advancing
people’s basic freedom of capability is simultaneously a means and end of development.
The World Bank’s “Empowerment and Poverty Reduction: A Sourcebook”, defines empowerment in its
broadest sense as the “expansion of freedom of choice and action” (Narayan, 2002). Kabeer (1999) uses this
approach in her definition of empowerment as the movement from an inability to an ability to make choices.
For her, empowerment implies choices made from the vantage point of real alternatives and without punishingly
high costs.
While there may be some debate about what empowerment is, or rather if certain changes in an individual or
a group are adequate proxies for empowerment, Mosedale (2005) identifies four generally agreed dimensions:
1. There is precondition of disempowerment,
2. Empowerment cannot be bestowed – at best an external agent can facilitate processes for it to happen,
3. It is about capacity to make decisions and carry them out, and
4. It is a process rather than a product.
Thus, it is clear that to understand empowerment, it is important to understand the concept of disempowerment.
Disempowerment has been variously described as an ‘isolation in decision-making’ (Puroshothaman, 1998)
‘lack of control over destiny’ (Campbell and Jovchelovitch, 2000); and a ‘deep-seated constraint on the ability
to choose’ (Kabeer, 1999). In other words, people’s lack of control over their destiny or inability to choose can
be explained in part by the constraints on their decision-making space: it is the overcoming of these constraints
that is empowering. Thus, it is the cognitive change that occurs within the individual that leads to further action
in their relationships with others. Disempowerment therefore has a strong individual dimension, but these
disempowering factors also have a social dimension in that they affect group dynamics, and can lead to
‘collective disempowerment’ (Kane and Montgomery 1998), which in turn further casts impact on the individual.
The community psychology literature views empowerment in part as the building of self-knowledge and self-
esteem of the individual to reduce ‘feelings of alienation and enhane feelings of solidarity and legitimacy’
(Asthana, 1996). Individual empowerment therefore is a sum of the reciprocal influences and confluence of
macro and micro level forces that impact the emotional cognitive and behavioural aspects of individuals’
(Speer 2000), and entails changes in meaning – which revolves around belief, values and behaviours’ competence
of self-efficacy, that is.
1. the belief of being able to carry out particular tasks or roles;
2. self-determination or the choices individuals have in initiating or regulating their actions;
3. impact or the degree to which one influences the outcomes of others; and
4. how people understand and relate to their social environment and the role of collectives in community life.
In order to be truly empowered, poor people must be able to go beyond their consciousness of themselves as
eternal victims, to transcend their self-perception towards greater control over their lives and environment.
This internal change in awareness, while catalyzed by group processes, is profoundly and intensely personal and
individual.
This above discussion on the nature of empowerment has provided a framework to examine the rationale of
empowerment in development practice. The starting point for most development interventions is that
empowerment is about both groups and individuals: it is group processes that lead to change in the lives of
individuals’ (Sen, 1997). Empowerment, thus, should not be about simple trade-offs between the individual and
the group, but rather how the group can reinforce the individual agency and vice versa (Speer, 2000): individual
empowerment can only occur in a social context and so must involve co-operation. Moreover, much development
literature argues that with poorer communities, collective and individual empowerment is mutually reinforcing
(Purushothaman, 1998; Murthy, 2001).
Thus, not only do group or collective processes provide a support or catalytic role for individual-empowerment.
Group exposes its members to local networks and this social cohesion results in awareness about local realities
(Campbell and Jovchelovitch, 2000). This awareness transforms the inner level of consciousness, which in turn
can help the individuals to overcome barriers for accessing the resources and the control over resources can lead
to the emergence of a capacity of self-expression (Sen, 1997). Empowerment thus occurs in the balance
between individuals accessing resources, and their inner transformation.
In short, empowerment is the process that allows one to gain the knowledge, skill-sets and attitude needed to
cope with the changing world and the circumstances in which one lives.

Important:
However, perceptions of being empowered vary across time, culture and domains of a person’s life. In India,
a low caste woman currently feels empowered when she is given a fair hearing in a public meeting, which is
comprised of men and women from different social and economic groups. In Brazil, in Porto Allegre, citizens—
both men and women—feel empowered if they are able to engage in decisions on budget allocations; in
Ethiopia, citizens and civil society groups report feeling empowered by consultations undertaken during the
preparation of the poverty reduction support program; in the USA, immigrant workers feel empowered through
unionization which has allowed them to negotiate working conditions with employers; and in the UK, a
battered woman feels empowered when she is freed from the threat of violence and becomes able to make
decisions about her own life. Thus, empowerment is a multi-dimensional and relative concept.
In essence, empowerment speaks of self-determined change. It implies bringing together the supply and demand
sides of development—changing the environment within which poor people live and helping them build and
capitalize on their own attributes. Empowerment is a cross-cutting issue. From education and health care to
governance and economic policy, activities that seek to empower poor people are expected to increase
development opportunities, enhance development outcomes and improve people’s quality of life. Consequently,
empowered people have freedom of choice and action, which in turn enables them to better influence the
course of their lives and the decisions, which affect them.
UNDP has identified two crucial routes as imperative for empowerment. The first is social mobilization and
collective agency, as poor women often lack the basic capabilities and self-confidence to counter and challenge
existing disparities and barriers against them. Often, change agents are needed to catalyze social mobilization
consciously. Second, the process of social mobilization needs to be accompanied and complemented by economic
security. As long as the disadvantaged suffer from economic deprivation and livelihood insecurity, they will not
be in a position to mobilize (UNDP, 2001). In economic development, the empowerment approach focuses on
mobilizing the self-help efforts of the poor, rather than providing them with social welfare. Economic
empowerment is also the empowering of previously disadvantaged sections of the population. Thus, SHGs
empower poor people economically by enabling them to practice thrift, to have access to formal sources of
credit and to engage in income generation with backward and forward linkages of training, raw material, credit,
marketing etc. Sustainable and profitable involvement in all these activities can further lead to acquisition of
assets and improvement in economic status.
However, most of the SHGs also have a credit plus approach and the social cohesion, meetings and the very
nature of group, leads to empowerment of the members in a broader sense. There is a collective strength
derived from the interface, network and mutual support a group provides and this strength results in enhanced
access by individuals to resources in the arenas of economic, political, and social decision-making. The group
gives voice, value, and support to the individual, and a sense of power develops in the course of collective
action. This is the underlying framework that drives much of the development work aimed at empowerment
through SHGs.
 INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT
GRASSROOT MOVEMENTS IN THE THIRD WORD
CHIPKO MOVEMENT
Context
The philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi has been inspiration for the Chipko movement since its beginning in
1973. Gandhi had once aptly remarked: “The Earth has enough to sustain everyone’s need. But it has got little
to satisfy everyone’s greed” (cited in bandyopadhyay, 1992, 270). This has been an inspiration for those
associated with movement. The chipko movement was started by Sarvodaya (‘welfare of all’) activists (followers
of Gandhi’s discilple. Vinoba Bhave) of Dasuli Gram Swarajya Mandal (DGSm) in Mandal village in Chamoli
district of the Garhwal Himalayan region (in Uttarakhand). The historical legacy of the Chipko strategy of
saving trees goes back to 1763 when in Rajasthan 300 persons from the Bishnoi sect sacrificed their lives for
saving (by hugging) their Khejri trees which were being felled under the orders of the then king of Jodhpur.
As per a news item in Rajasthan patrika (6th June 2007), in 1730 AD, 363 Bishonois sacrificed their life in
Kheljauli village under the Jodhpur estate for protecting Kherji tree. Hence Akhil Bhartiya Bishnoi Mahasabha
pledged to protect wild life and green trees on the Environment Day (5th June 2007.) But actually there is no
link between this historical event and the Chipko movement except in the similarity of the action. Under the
British rule, the Indian Forest Depeatment was created in 1864; further the British government’s contract of
long-term felling rights with the Tehri state (Garhwal region) in 1865, and the enactment of the anti-people
Indian Forest Act 1878 actually ended the system of the local community’s control and collective self-
management of forests as common property resources. This Act gave the British a monopoly over all kinds
of forest produce, and thus the livelihood of peasants and forest dwellers was severely threatened. The basic
goal of the colonial rule was the commercial exploitation of timber for ship-building industries for the British
Royal Navy and sleepers for the expansion of Indian railways. This meant a massive felling of trees, especially
in the Himalayas and in the Western Ghats (Gadgil and Guha, 1992). For instance, during 1869-1885, 65
million railway sleepers were exported from the deodar (Cedrus Deodara) forest of the Yamuna catchment
(in the Garhwal Himalayas) alone (Guha 1989, cited in Bandyopadhyay 1992-266). On the other hand, the
British restricted ‘shikar’ (hunting) by traditionally hunting people though it permitted free hunting for sports
by the British and Indian elites. At the same time, they also made forests and hills more accessible to outsiders
(tourists, the army, contractors and entrepreneurs) through roads, bridges and even railway lines. Finally, the
introductions of all this, most of the village commons were either brought under state ownership or privatized
for the sake of revenue. Consequently, thelocal people from the Kumaun region of the Himalayas resisted the
reservation of the Kumaun forests (in 1911-17). The protest culminated in the administration being paralysed
in 1921, fires almost from end to end (Guha, 1998). This encroachment, under the dictates of European
capitalism in general and British capitalism in particular, in the’ space of civil society’ by an all-powerful
leviathan state (the British Raj) had severe consequences: ‘a political watershed, in that it represented an
enormous expansion of the powers of the state, and that a corresponding diminution of the rights of village
communities; a social watershed, in that by curving local access it radically altered traditional patterns of
resource use; and an ecological watershed, in that the emergence of timber as an important commodity was
to fundamentally alter forest ecology’ (Gadgil and Guha, 1994, 104).
These factors led to several protests through Satyagraha (peaceful resistance) by, local people. Many protests
took place in Tehri Garhwal region in 1904, 1906 and 1930 against so-called scientific forest management, and
for an alternative concept of right and focus on village autonomy. On 30 May, 1930, many protesters were
killed by the royal army of Tehri.
A rush for modernization of India through industrialization, i.e., non-agricultural factories, often described as
‘modem temples’ of India, to use Jawaharlal Nehru’s term, meant more intensive use of natural resources as
raw materials. As the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru said in 1956: ‘We are not going to spend
the next hundred years in arriving gradually, step by step, at that stage of development which the developed
countries have reached today. Our pace and tempo of progress has to be much faster’ (cited in Akula 1995,
131). So industrialization led to a massive deforestation in the 1960s which meant deterioration of the conditions
of the peasants and tribals dependent on forest produce. Consequently, during 1951-73, India lost four million
hectares of forests, thus leaving 37-45 per cent forest cover against the minimum requirement of 66 per cent
(Bhatt, 1983).
Industrialization also required more energy, hence mining in forest and off-shore drilling (for coal and oil as fuel
respectively) and construction of dams for electricity intensified.
In the name of scientific management of forests, a massive number of monoculture afforestation projects were
started in many parts of the country, especially during the early 1960s.
There was an associated process of industrialization, namely urbanization; i.e., many suburban areas, army
camps, contractors’ wood depots and tourist spots, etc. were developed as hill stations. Alongside these
developments, there also emerged illicit liquor trade. This ruined many families as whatever the male workers
earned as in tree-felling and other activities, was spent by them on liquor. The illicit liquor shops had linkage
with outside forest contractors. Hence, local people, especially women, of Garhwal raised their voices for
prohibition as early as in 1965 in Ghansyali village. In November 1965 many women demonstrated and
picketed liquor shops in Tehri and prohibition was implemented in Tehri, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, and Pithoragarh
hill districts of U.P. (Shiva, 1988).
In 1970, natural disaster in the form of floods in Alaknanda river destroyed six motor bridges, 16 footbridges,
a road length of 30 km, 604 houses, 200 ha of standing crops and affected people’s life and property, especially
terraced agricultural fields in Garhwal; however, the state government did not come to the recue of the people
in terms of compensation for victims of disasters and development assistance to the Garhwal Himalayan
region.
In 1972, there were several protest against the commercial exploitation of forests in the Garhwal region in
Purola 11 December 1972, in Uttarkashi on 12 December 1972, and in Gopeshwar (the headquarters of
Chamoli district) on 15 December 1972; it was at this time that local folk-poet ghanshyam Raturi ‘Shailani’
composed the following poem which became a means of spreading awareness among and uniting the people:
‘Embrace our trees
Save them of our hills
Save it from being looted’.
Shailani’s poem was an expression of a conflict between the ‘insider’ local people’s survival/livelihood and
‘outsider’s commercial profit, i.e., need versus greed.

Formation: Early Phase of the Chipko Movement

Three major issues formed the roots of the Chipko movement: First, there has been an interregional gap
between backward hills and developed plains. For instance, 96 per cent of Chamoli district’s population lived
in villages; 42 per cent were not gainfully employed; 60 per cent of the total female population was working
while only 55 per cent of the men were working; 97 per cent of the working women were engaged in cultivation
while only 72 per cent of the working men were in cultivation. Further, nearly every family owns on an average
less than half a hectare of land, it does not suffice for more than six months’ subsistence, hence their
dependence on forests (Jain, 1991). Consequently, there is a massive male migration from hills to find jobs in
armed forces and other works in plains, hence it is popularly known as ‘money order economy’. Second, there
was an intensification of the perception of ‘insider-outsider’, i.e., hiatus between ‘us’ (local peasants) and ‘them’
(non-local contractors/traders/industrialists/state). Third, difference in vision of development: local people
want small-scale, local, indigenous knowledge-based development rather than large-scale, national, international,
and modem (read western) scientific development.
How was it formed and mobilized? In the 1960s, local people with a Gandhian orientation in the Garhwal
region formed co-operatives, based on forest resources: Dasuali Gram Swarajya Mandal), Purola Gram Swarjya
Sangh, Kathyur Swarajya Sangh and Takula Gram Swarajya Sangh. However, it is sometimes alleged that the
interests of these co-operatives clashed with those of the local women since while the former wanted more
forest protection (Shiva, 1989). Other Scholars have criticized Shiva’s view as a simplistic dichotomization
between the ‘feminine’ principle of ‘conservation’ and the ‘masculine’ principle of ‘destruction’: ‘Shiva’s analysis
seems to be an effort to impose a decadent and outdated Western model of gender conflict on a Gandhian
movement characterized by unique gender collaboration. This makes Shiva’s work sensational but largely
unrealistic…” (Bandyopadhyay, 1992, 267-68). Other researchers also assert that the Chipko movement was
Mandal, started in early 1973 by some Sarvodaya workers (all males) at Mandal, Chamoli district, and it was
only later that the women joined it.
Earlier DGSM had started an unskilled and semi-skilled workers’ co-operative in 1960 to create more employment
by processing forest resources for farm implements. DGSM thought of purchasing, timber from the forest
department through auctions for its small workshop that aimed to make farm tools for use by the peasantry.
But it was outmaneuvered by the rich contractors. For instance, in 1971, this co-operative started a small
processing plant in Gopeshwar to manufacture turpentine and resin from-pine sap. However, the forest department
did not supply enough pine sap even when the price that the co-operative paid for it was higher than what was
paid by a partly state-owned producer in the plains; hence it remained closed for eight months in 1971-72.
The villagers demonstrated (Jain, 1991). Later the forest department allotted 300 ash trees to Simon Company,
Allahabad (a sports goods manufacturer) in an auction, though it had refused the DGSM’s annual request for
ten ash trees for its arm tool’s workshop. In March 1973, when agents of the Simon Company came to cut
300 ash trees (for making tennis rackets) in Mandal village of Chamoli district, the villagers protested beating
drums and singing songs in the forest. They were mobilized by the Gandhian co-operative, DGSM.
They declared that they would like to die instead of allowing the felling of trees; in an attempt to stop the
felling of the trees they hugged them. Seeing this labourer hired by the contractor left the site. Thus the Chipko
(hug the tree) movement was born. Later the manufacturer got an alternative contract from the forest department
at Rampur Phata Forest in Keeda Ghati (a valley in the region). But there, too, these villagers mobilized the
local people who did not allow the felling of trees; Chipko activists kept a vigil from June to December 1973.
As a result of this mobilization, the forest department offered one ash tree to DGSM if it allowed Simon
Company to cut those trees. But DGSM refused; then they were offered ten ash trees, but they refused again.
Ultimately, the forest department cancelled Simon Company’s permit and the trees were assigned to DGSM
instead. It also withdrew the ban on pine sap supplies. The third incident took place in Reni forest (in Chamoli
district, Garhwal region) where an auction of 2500 trees was announced by the forest department. The pioneer
of the movement, Pandit Chandi Prasad Bhatt of DGSM (who got the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1982 and
Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1986), mobilized the local people on a regular basis and reminded
them ofthe floods and landslides in Alaknanda river in 1970 which had been caused by the massive deforestation.
He also suggested that they should hug the trees as a tactic. Women took up his message wholeheartedly as
they had been the worst sufferers during the disasters earlier. Gaura Devi of Lata village organised the women
and prevented the contractor’s agents from cutting trees. She compared the forests to her mother’s home
(maika). Consequently, the government set up an expert committee to look into the issue, and the contractor
for the time being withdrew from the scene. After two years, the committee reported that Reni forest was an
ecologically sensitive area, hence no trees should be cut in this region. Consequently the government placed
a ten-year ban on the area of about 1,150 sq. km. (Guha, 1989; Jain 1991; Shiva, 1989), Therefore, Guha
(1989) calls the earlier phase of Chipko as ‘private face’ i.e., it was essentially a peasant movement district.

Consolidation: The Later Phase

The Chipko movement consolidated in range and depth from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s when it
achieved a ‘public profile’, as Guha (1989) calls it, as one of the most celebrate ecological movements in the
world. This phase began with a slogan: ‘What do the forests bear? Soil, water, and pure air’ which was first
coined in 1977 in a Chipko meeting in Adwani village in Henwal valley of Tehri-Garhwal district.
The Virendra Kumar Committee (appointed by the state government to investigate the causes of the floods
in Alaknanda in 1970) reported widespread deforestation as a major reason for the disaster. Then the writings
of Eckholm (1975, 1976) regarding the linkage between Himalayan deforestation and Bangladesh floods (though
Hamilton and King, 1983 do not support this view) also had some impact. Further Sarla Devi, a European
disciple of Gandhi and an activist-leader in the Chipko movement, had insights in both local and global issues.
She wrote to the Planning Commission of India pointing out soil and water conservation consciousness in
Chipko’ because it became ‘a global campaign focusing on sustainability of forests, on the one hand, and
sustainability of the agri-pastoral economy of Garhwal Himalaya, on the other’ and was ‘no longer a hill-
people’s movement against forest felling. It has evolved into a philosophy…’.
In the later phase, the collective action became radicalized and broad based. For istance, an activist, Bachni
Devi, of Adwani village, led a protest compaign against the village headman, her own husband, who had
obtained a local contract to fell forest trees. Women were seen holding lighted lanterns in broad –day light.
When the forester ridiculed them by asking: ‘do you know what forests bear? They produce profit, resin and
timber’, the women replied with a song in chorus: ‘What do the forests bear?/ Soil, water and pure air/ Soil,
water and pure air/sustain the earth and all she bears’. Afterwards protests against limestone quarrying in Doon
Valley and Tehri Dam got support from the formal scientific community. This capacity of ‘thinking globally
and acting locally’ was the basic strength of the Chipko movement, in which Sundarlal Bahuguna too made
an appreciable contribution. The Chipko movement spread in breadth and depth. It expanded to Karnataka
later as Appiko (Kannad word for Chipko ‘hugging’) movement in 1983 as well as to anti-Tehri Dam movement
in Uttarakhand in 1990s.
The Chipko movement has, however, taken three major strands: First, ‘appropriate technology’ group of
Chandi Prasad Bhatt of DGSM which sees non-destructive but sustainable use of forest resources for local
purposes through co-operatives. Second, the ecocentric ‘Crusading Gandhian’ group (S .L. Bahuguna – later A.
Nandy, Vandana Shiva) that seeks a total ban on tree felling, and relies heavily on the religious tradition to reject
the modem lifestyle of consumerism and values of materialism. Third, Marxist-oriented ‘Uttarakhand Sangharsh
Vahini’ (USV) that focuses on a need for redistribution of productive resources and includes wider issues of
alcoholism and mining in the region (Gadgil and Guha, 1992). However, despite these ideological differences,
all of them joined together to fight against tree felling in the Himalayas. The Chipko movement reached its
climax in 1981 when activist Sundar Lal-Bahuguna went on an indefinite fast for a total ban on tree felling in
the forest situated on the hills of 1000 meters above sea level. This got support from thousands of activists,
allies and supporters; the activists recited from religious scriptures as well as sung poems and songs suitable
for the occasion. The them Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, met S.L. Bahuguna and ordered a
15-year ban on the commercial tree felling in Garhwal Himalayan forests (Akula, 1995; Shiva, 1991). Later this
ban continued.
The Silent Valley Movement, Kerala
Since this movement was launched in India, its historical context is almost the same as that of the Chipko
movement.
Genesis
Silent Valley is a narrow valley of Kunthi or Kunthipuzha river in Kerala at an elevation between 2,400 metres
and 1,000 metres. Silent Valle forests are locally known as ‘Sairandhrivanam’ and are considered as one of the
last representative tracts of virgin tropical evergreen forests in India. It has 8,950 hectares of rainforests with
rare plants and animals including the loin-tailed macaque, a threatened primate. In 1973, the then State government
of Kerala actively considered the option of putting a dam on the narrow gorge at the lower end of the valley
to fill a reservoir upstream and generate hydro-electricity. This would have submerged 830 hectare, including
500 hectare of prime tropical evergreen forest. The project would have generated 240 MW (four units of 60
MW each) of electricity to facilitate industrialization in the region, irrigate 10,000 hectare of land in the
relatively underdeveloped districts of Palghat and Malappuram, and would have given employment to 3000
persons during the construction of the dam. The project was, however, delayed till 1976 in the name of
planning (Swaminathan, 1983).

Formation
When the (local Marxist) Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (Kerala Science and Literature Society-KSSP), a
‘science to people’ movement by college and school teachers resisted the implementation of the dam on the
grounds of heavy losses of flora and fauna, the attention of the Central government and the ecological task
force was drawn to this aspect of the project. A task force of the National Committee on Environment
Planning and Coordination, under the chairmanship of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the then Secretary, Agriculture
Ministry of Government of India, and several non-governmental conservation organization including Bombay
Natural History Society, Indian Science Congress and KSSP raised question about the cost estimates of the
project, and were not happy with the submergence off the forest. So they urged the Government of Kerala to
drop the project but their suggestions went unheeded.

Consolidation
KSSP mobilized the people on a larger scale in order to challenge a larger problem, as the project was not only
supported by the government but also by all political parties in Kerala State. KSSP broadened the base of its
struggle and involved ‘an entire gamut of counter experts-botanists, zoologists, economists-and succeeded in
arguing that not only would the scheme have adverse environmental impact on a rare ecosystem rich in
biological and genetic diversity, but also that the required power generation could as easily take place by setting
up thermal power units in other location and improving the efficiency of the transmission system’ (Sethi,
1993). On the other hand, international conservation organizations like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and
the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) became involved in the
‘Save Silent Valley’ campaign, especially to save the lion-tailed macaque, a rare breed of monkey residing in
Silent Valley. Thus the movement got an international dimension. However, the Kerala Legislative Assembly
passed a unanimous resolution for the speedy implementation of the proposed hydro-electric project. But the
implementation was delayed due to scientific controversies, lobbying through the media, parliamentary and
expert committees, campaigns, several court orders, and the requirement of an approval by the Central
government. In order to placate the conservationists, the Government of Kerala created a national park in the
Silent Valley in December in 1980 which excluded the proposed project site from the park area. Meanwhile
in the early 1980s Mrs. India Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India again, and being relatively sympathetic
toward environment conservation issues, she referred the matter to a new scientific committee, headed by
M.G.K. Menon, which in 1983 opined in favour of conservation. The project was shelved in November 1983
in deference to the weight of public protest/campaign and the sentiments of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. So on 15
November, 1984 the Silent Valley National Park was refortified to include the area of the proposed project.
Two major features of this movement are notable: first, this successful ecological movement was unique
because the proposed dam in this uninhabited area did not involve any displacement of the people, but was
concerned with ecological issues of saving a rare animal species (lion-tailed macaque) and rare plant species
(last surviving natural evergreen tropical rainforests). Hence it struggled for a new ‘paradigm of development
without destruction’. Second, this movement’s success depended on the support that it received from various
levels (local, national and international), and various strata of society like leftist intellectuals, wildlife
conservationists (scientists and political activists), the media, government experts and the Central government.

Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement), Madhya Pradesh

Genesis: Narmada River is the largest westward-flowing river in India. It originates from a holy tank in the
midst of Hindu temples in Madhya Pradesh, and flows into the Arabian Sea covering a distance of 1,300 krns
through forests and plains. About 20 million people live in the Narmada basin depending on the river for their
daily survival. Further more than 80 per cent of the people lived in the villages and there was a sizable
population of tribal peasantry, namely, Bhils, Gonds, Baiga and others. Tribal’s had a fairly equitable land
distribution while non-tribals had a marked differentiation e.g., in some districts of lower reaches of Narmada,
70 percent of the land was owned by 20 per cent of the farmers in 1980s.
Though the Narmada basin is resource-rich, it has remained underdeveloped with lower agricultural yields, lack
of medical, educational and banking facilities, lower energy consumption (only 50 per cent on the national
average), high illiteracy and lower life expectancy. This is mainly because of political reason. For instance, since
1946 to 1970s three States of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra had been quarrelling over the sharing
of water, the area to be irrigated in each state, and the level of the major dam Sardar Sarovar.
The Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal was constituted in 1960 and it submitted its report in 1979.
The Narmada Valley Development Project wants to ‘develop’ and transform the valley into 30 major, 135
medium and 3000 minor dams! Hence, Claude Alavars calls such a huge Narmada Valley Project the ‘world’s
greatest planned disaster’ (cited in Gadgil) major dam, Sardar Sarovar Project (SS))-the largest started in 1979.
Work was stopped in 1983 and restarted in 1987. Actually the Planning Commission (Government of India)
sanctioned the construction of this dam only in 1987 at an estimated cost of Rs 6,700 crores but unofficially
it is estimated that the project will cost between Rs. 130,000 million to Rs. 200,000 million. The World Bank
agreed in 1985 to lend $450 million for the dam and the canal components of SSP but in 1993, under the
pressure from international environmental NGOs, it gave strong signals to the Government of India regarding
its withdrawal. So, in order to avoid humiliation, the Government of India announced in March 1993 that it
would terminate its contract with the World Bank. Only $280 million had been disbursed by then (Kothari,
1995). Since then it is being constructed through a private company (S. Kumar group).
The Narmada movement has a lot of popular support because the project will displace about 100,000 people
in 243 villages of whom 60 per cent are tribal’s. Some groups estimate displacement of two lakh person.
And out of 243 villages, 103 villages fall in M.P., while the command area of the major beneficiaries lies in
Gujarat (Kothari and Bhartari, 1984). Further, adding insult to injure, an additional 4,200 ha of forests, on
which thousands of tribal’s depend for their livelihood, was cleared for resettlement and rehabilitation of the
dam-displaced people. Unfortunately a small town Harsud (in M.P.) got totally submerged in Sardar Sarovar
dam!
Formation: Earlier Phase
The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) was formed in 1987 to launch a movement against SSP. But even a
decade earlier in 1997, the villages of Nimad region of M.P. had protested as the potential threat of eviction
loomed large over them. The main issue of the protest in its first phase was the demand for adequate
compensation for the land to be submerged in the SSP. It was a moderate mobilization for functional minor
change (more qualitative than qualitative) within the framework of the project. This was the pre-NBA phase
of ‘moderate protest’. With the formation of NBA in 1987, under the leadership of Medha Patkar, the second
phase started where the main issue became proper rehabilitation of potential ousters. This was a radical change
because till then, in India, there had been no national rehabilitation policy for displaced people. This may be
called the ‘identity’ phase of the moderate mobilization.
Consolidation: Later Phase
NBA got momentum, in the third phase in 1989-90 in two ways: first, its base was broadened, and second it
applied more radical strategies of protest. The process of ‘movement dynamics’ involved four major events
(Gadgil and Guha, 1994; Roy and Sen, 1992). In 1989, activists from the neighboring villages of Badwani
uprooted the stone-markers from the submergence area of the dam, and threw them outside the State Legislative
Assembly in Bhopal, Second, and more importantly, the Harshud rally was held on 20 September 1989 where
more than 60,000 volunteers gathered. This town was significant because it, too, lagter submerged in the dam,
as its height was not reduced. Further, famous Gandhian Social activists like Baba Amte, S.L. Bahaguna,
(of the Chipko movement). Medha Patkar of NBA, B.D. Sharma (a social activist and ex-Commissioner for
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Government of India), and many other activists participated in this
rally. There the NBA took three fundamental decisions: (a) total opposition to the dam, because there was no
land available in M.P., Maharashtra and Gujarat for implementing the declared ‘land for land’ policy of
rehabilitation; this disillusioned the movement activists; (b) instead it now thought of an alternative development
paradigm, as activist took a collective oath to oppose the kind and pattern of ‘destructive development’
exemplified in SSP; (c) in May 1990, villagers from the Narmada basin gathered in New Delhi and sat on a
‘dharma’ (sit-in strike) at Gol Methi Chowk (close to the then Prime Minister, V.P. Singh’s residence) for several
days, singing, dancing and delivering speeches. With the assurance of the P.M. to review SSP, they went back.
Finally, on 25 December 1990, NBA organized Sangharsh Yatra (Struggle March) from Rajghat (in M.P.) to the
border village of Ferkuva (they had originally planned to reach Kevada colony, the site of the SSP dam, but
were stopped by Gujarat from entering Gujarat State). However, about activists including Baba Amte entered
Gujarat, sub-groups, with their hands tied to symbolize the non-violent method of resistance. On the M.P. of
the border, Medha Patkar and other activists on a humger strike for three weeks, but the Gujarat government
did not relent. This may be called the collective self-empowerment phase of the government.

Anti-Chico Dam Movement, Luzon, the Philippines

Context
The Philippines, consisting of 7,000 islands with 30 million hectare of area, has primarily been an agrarian
economy. It was under Spanish colonial rule (from 16th century to ate 19th century) as the discovery of gold
helped the Spanish to convert the Philippines to Christianity. Then local people in favour of the regime were
given land. At the end of the 19th century, US controlled the Philippines, and it established a legal system to
claim any land. Under the new Land Registration Act of 1902, everyone had to register his/her land before
the US authorities. Since it was written in English and not publicized, the common people of the Philippines
as well as US interests benefited from it. In 1905, two laws, Public Lands Act and the Mining Law, provided
that any land not registered under the Act and the Mining of 1902 was ‘public land’ (i.e., central government’s
land, not of communities), and all ‘public lands’ were freely open to Americans and the Filipinoes for use and
purchase. Further, the Commonwealth Act of 1935 placed severe restriction on indigenous people’s rights to
enter the forests reserved for timber. Thus the new system of individual land ownership replaced the earlier
system where individuals were simply the custodians of lands with the actual owners being the ‘spirits’ which
ranged from particular gods to past and future generations of humans. In pre-colonial days in the Philippines,
as the adat system in East Malaysia, the forests were communally owned and individual could claim exclusive
usufruct right only over particular trees. (Hurst, 1990). In 1946, the Philippines got independence, but the
vestiges of the colonial system continued. Under the semi-feudal regime of Macros (early 1970s to 1986)
powerful landowners like Alfonso Lim controlled more than 600,000 hectare of land while Colonel M. Barba,
Macros’ brother-in law, controlled 200,000 hectare (both being in Luozn, the capital island). Timber was the
most significant export sector, and out of 14 million hectare of virgin forest, Macros permitted 12 million
hectare to be exploited by his relatives and cronies. At the instance of the landlord, forest laws were passed
to safeguard timber from the local people! The colonial government, under the Act of 1902, had given the
landless farmers a free passage to Mindanao. Thus they set Catholic Filipinos against the Muslim rebels-a
‘divide and rule’ policy. The national governments continued the same. Macros’ regime designated 1.5 million
ha of denuded forest land as ‘agricultural and settlement land.’
The socio-economic condition of the Philippines during the 1970s and early 1980s was pathetic. Almost half
the population was living below the poverty line, with 4.5 million people with having an annual income of US$
150 per family in 1984 (Bureau of Forest Department, cited in Hurst, 1990). In the 1970s the Macros
government proposed the construction of 40 huge dams for the generation of hydro-electric power, promoted
by international development agencies. For the corrupt Macros and his men, it was a good opportunity for
getting major contracts. On the other hand, dams were to be built in valleys with the most fertile lands by
displacing the local people.
Genesis
In 1973, a German consultancy company, Lameyer International Gmbh, and Engineering and Development
Corporation of the Philippines carried out a feasibility study, financed by the World Bank, aimed for the hydro-
electricity project on Chico River. They suggested the construction of four dams the generation of 1010 MW
of electricity (Drucker, 1986; Hurst 1990);
(a) Chico I: Sabamgam: Mountain province, 100 MW.
(b) Chico II: Saganda: Mountain Province, 360 MW.
(c) Chico III: Basao: Kalinga-Apayo, 100 MW.
(d) Chico IV: Tomiangan: Kalinga-Apayo, 450 MW.
Besides they also suggested an additional irrigation project that would make this dam project more economical.
Finally, they also recommended as assessment of the project’s potential environment and social impacts. But
the government ignored the latter. The National Power Corporation of the Philippines publicized the benefits
from the project in terms of increasing food production, availability of assured and cheaper electricity to
industry, trade, health and education, and finally uplifting the tribal’s living standards (Hurst, 1990). The
government secured preliminary project funding from the World Bank in 1974 at a cost of US$1000 million
at 1983 prices (Drucker, 1986). However, though the proposed area was not totally forested, yet it means
Kalingas from the Chico Valley. Second, there would have been a loss of their agricultural land: more than 120
ha of rice-terraces and 500 ha of coffee and fruit trees would have been submerged. This land under the
submergence zone produced crops worth 13 million peso (US$690,000) in 1972. Third, compensation for this
loss. Fourth, they also Fifth, though the government claimed to have done a cost-benefit analysis with the
benefits being more than the costs, it was never made public. Rather survey began even before World Bank
made any formal response for funding (Chic IV alone would cost US$500-600 million for construction only).
So it created a genuine suspicion amongst the tribal’s. Finally, and significantly, the proposed dam meant the
destabilization of their existing communal management of land, as well as the desecration of their ancestors’
burial grounds (Drucker, 1986; Hurst, 1990; Jojola, 1984).

Sarawak Movement, North-West Borneo, East Malaysia

Context
East Malaysia was the world’s largest exporter of tropical logs in 1980s in East Malaysia, Sarawak is the largest
state occupying 124, 450 sq. km. of the north-west Borneo. It has two major rivers, Rajang and Baram that
drain into the South China Sea. These navigable rivers are major transport routes along with the road networks.
Sarawak’s the rate of 2.7 per cent annually. Dayak tribal groups are the larger in number accounting for 44 per
cent of the total population, followed by the Chinese 29 per cent, the Muslim Malays 20 per cent, while the
rest are Melanu and Indian. Though many tribal’s have converted to Christianity, their traditional beliefs still
continue in everyday life. A majority of the population depends, on agriculture (81 per cent). However, the
backbone of their cash economy is oil and timber, but the revenue generated from oil goes to the federal
government, hence an animosity has developed between Sarawak and west Malaysia. Log Exports dominate
Sarawak’s income, accounting for 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the total export value annually. Sarawak’s timber
exports exceeded US$ 513 million in 1985 and state tax on timber exports was 34 per cent of the export value,
indicating the government’s interest in the timber industry (Hurst 1990). According to another estimate, timber’s
share in Sarawak’s exports was 32 per cent and it contributed half the state revenue in 1980s (Tsuruaka, cited
in Eccleston, 1996). However, the export royalties are less than half the rates prevalent in Sabah state of
Malaysia or in neighboring Indonesia (Repetto and Gilles, 1988). Sarawak has a colonial history as it was under
the empire of Brunei. In the mid-19th century a British Adventurer, James Brooke, went to Borneo for trade
when it way under the empire of Brunei. Various ribal gropus were in rebellion against the empire. Book’s boat,
too, was attacked by the tribal’s. Then he took the side of the empire of Brunei that allotted him 11,200 sq.
km. of Sarawak in recognition of his help, nad declared him the first white ‘rajah’ (king) in Borneo. But through
battles, maneuvering and the policy of divide and rule, Brooke extended his control to most of present day
Sarawak. Brooke did one god thing: he abolished the slave class, in Sarawak, which consisted mostly of
prisoners-of-war. He also did not interfere in people’s customs and instead concentrated on trade. In 1963, he
used the Land Order to control all the ‘unoccupied and wastlands’; second, this order restricted clearing of the
forest without prior permission. In 1946 the Brooke family ceded power to British authorities and in 1963
Sarawak was included in the Independent Federation of Malaya (Colchester, 1993). In the 1960, 76.5 per cent
(9.4 million hectare) of the total land area was forest but it declined to 7 million hectare only in late 1980s
(Hurst, 1990).
Genesis
Sarawak has been losing about 41,000 hectare of forest annually. Government authorities blame the traditional
shifting cultivation as the major cause of the forest loss in East Malaysia. But under the swidden system land
is cultivated by rotation and is left fallow till its fertility is restored. A set of rituals under ‘adat’ (traditional
legal system and customary practice) are attached with swidden agriculture to redress the balance of nature that
agriculture interrupts. Actually land is not owned, but each generation acts as custodian (well-defined family
site) and forest is almost always communal property. Tony Hatch (of the Department of agriculture, Sarawak,)
estimated in 1980s that about 2.4 million hectare of Sarawak was still under some stage of shifting cultivation
with 150,000 hectare planted annually. For him, the area taken up for shifting cultivation annually is ‘modest’
and has not increased since the early 1970s. On the other hand, during 1963-85 about 2.82 million hectare of
Sarawak’s forests (30 per cent of total Sarawak forests) were logged; at the end of 1984, another 5.8 million
hectare (three-fifth of the total forest area) was licensed out for logging; further, in 1983, Malaysia accounted
for 58 per cent of the total world exports of tropical logs and in 1985 Sarawak alone shared 30 per cent of
Malaysia’s total log production; hence in 1985 in Sarawak alone 270,000 ha of forests were logged
(Apin (1987). Even the communal forests decreased from 303 sq km. to 56 sq. km. during 1974-85 and it takes
between six to twelve years for communal forest applications to be heard, as E. Hong estimates. As per another
estimate (Consumers Association of Penan, 1987), 2000 sq. km. of Sarawak forests are logged annually, with
the logging being the most intensive in the state’s Fourth and Fifth Divisions. Along the Baram River alone,
more than 30 logging operations work on 4000 sq. km. of forest (all data by Hatch, Hong, and Consumer
Association of Penan cited in Hurst, 1990).
Consequently, during the 1980s the annual output of logs in Sarawak doubled, reaching about 15 million cubic
meters, valuing at £2.5 billion in 1990; two-third of Sarawak’s log exlports go to Japan and three Japanese
companies (Mitsubisi, Marubeni and C. Itoh) have been engaged in the logging (cited in Woodhouse, 1992).
Interestingly, Japan has good tropical forests but does not log for obvious reasons! On the other hand, due to
the massive logging in the Sarawak, Dayaks have been facing problems of cultural identity, loss of livelihood,
health hazards and floods. Now the question arises as to what are the causes and consequences of the
deforestation in Sawarak. As mentioned above, logging in the primary cause for the deforestation in Sarawak.
The secondary reason is swidden agriculture. As a forester in Sarawak remarked: ‘if millions of trees are felled
without replacement, Sarawak’s climatic conditions, its soil condition and its forest will surely and certainly
degrade to the detriment of its inhavitants’ (cited in Hurst, 1990, 85). Second, there is also soil erosion due
to deforestation. According to Hatch, ‘the soil erosion

Formation: Earlier Phase

In 1981, 500 Kenyah people from Long Apoh on Baram River met Sam Ling Timer Company logging camp
and demanded compensation for the damage to their land. Earlier they had sent petitions to the company
requesting it to enter into negotiations over compensation proposals for their longhouse (wooden house of
forest tribals). The Company did not respond to their suggestion for a compensation of just US$ 16 for every
tone of timber extracted. Then they threatened to burn the camp. Consequently, they were arrested.
The second incident took place in late 1981 when 80 percents from 22 longhouse arrived at the Lamat cmap
demanding US$ 0.80 per tone of timber extracted. Earlier the tribals had requested for timber licenses but were
refused and instead the Lamat Company got a license for 60,000 hectare. The third incident occurred in the
Naih area where a camp manager was forced to pay US$ 2,800 as compensation for damage caused by logging;
local longhouse was earlier promised for it. But they were arrested instead. In the fourth incident, the Ulu
Nyalan camp in Niah was threatened to burn down the camp and two days later they were arrested. There were
other similar incidents during this phase. In October 1983, several blocks of living quarters in Batu Niah logging
camp were burnt down. In January 1984, 200 Ibans barricaded a timber road with logs at Lubok Lalang in
Sungai Medamit. They demanded US$ 790,000 as compensation from another company owned by Datuk
James Wong (the Tourist Minister of Sarawak). But they received nothing. In other cases they got an agreed
compensation though much less than the damage that had been done. In another case, at Long Piah in Baram
district, the loggers drove roads though swidden agricultural fields without the people’s permission, removing
all the rich top soil. People did not go to court because the maximum compensation to be claimed was just
US$ 2 per meter. Further, Dayaks do not trust the Sarawak justice system.

Consolidation: The Later Phase

The problem intensified in 1985 when Limbang trading destroyed the graves of Along Sega’s parents and five
relatives. The camp manager of the logging company offered him US$ 40 as compensation, which he refused.
He told the manager: ‘even if I have to die of any cause I shall not trade the bodies and souls of my parents
and relatives to save mine because our bodies, dead or alive, are not for sale…if you have so much money
already, please don’t come here to take our land’ (cited in Hurst, 1990 177). The largest environment group in
Malyasia, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM, Friends of the Earth, Malaysia) co-ordinates the grievances of the
local tribals by giving them legal advice and publicity. Its co-ordinator Harrison Gnau (a Kayan tribal) tries to
defuse the situation. But in late 1986 the conflicts between Dayaks up-river and the loggers were so frequent
that the Dayaks issued a strong public statement through SAM: ‘We cannot wait any longer as every day our
livelihood is continually besieged by the threatening activities of the logging companies. And if we are continually
ignored we take it that you are no longer interested in our problems; and shall take appropriate actions to defend
ourselves, our future generation, our land, our crops, our properties and so forth from further and continued
destruction’ (cited in Hurst 1990, 199).
The militant struggle reached its climax in March 1987 with a new strategy of complete road blockade. Earlier
road blockades had not succeeded because they were not properly co-ordinated. Despite there being a government
informant in each longhouse, a co-ordinated plan was made. In March 1987, 12 major logging roads were
blockaded by more than 2000 people from three ethnic groups, the Penan, Kayan and Kelabit. Among the
participants, the Penans were in a majority though most of the sites were located on Native Customary Land
controlled by the other groups. The blockade affected nine logging companies including Samling Timber,
Limbang Trading. Wong Tong Kwong, Merlin timber, Sarsin Lumber, Lambang Trading, Wong Tong Kwong,
Merlin timber, Sarsin Lumber, Marabong Lumber and Baya Lumber. Government authorities sealed the areas
and arrested several members of SAM under the Internal Security Act charging them with instigating the
blockade, and put them in jain for a month. Even then the blockade was to publicise the issues, and this strategy
succeeded. In Eash Malaysia most of the newspapers are owned by political parties who are engaged in logging.
However, Sam through its parent organization’s (Friends of the Earth) international connections was able to get
international media coverage. The ruling Sarawak National Party blamed the outsiders for inciting the Penans,
particularly a lawyer from Kuala Lumpur visited the region to instigate the local people (Chai, 1994; Hurst,
1990). In June 1987, a delegation of Penan headmen went to Kuala Lumpur to meet the King and Prime
Minister but could not meet them. However, they got media coverage with the international media also
supporting them in their cause through a wide mobilization by the Friends of the Earth. This outside support
from the media was branded as ‘anti-development’ by the national media. The national media criticized SAM
and other groups supporting the cause as an attempt to keep Penan as museum pieces. People’s Mirror of
Sarawak without doors–a life of mere existence with no material possessions…Children with phlegm-smeared
faces tug to their mothers sarongs. Sucklings and toddlers-children could very well be their only then when will
they ever be? The Penans, being very simple people are being easily swayad. The truth is that logging does not
deprive them of their food and water supply’ (cited in Hurst 1990, 120). But local tribals perceived in
differently. As an active woman participant of the blockade at Long Napir remarked: ‘They [loggers] mowed
down our forest and they leveled our hill. The sacred graves of our ancestors were desecrated. Our waters and
streams are contraminated, our plant life destroyed. And the forest animals are killed or have run away’ (cited
in Apin, 1987, 24).
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Foundation 2020
– Ashutosh Pandey

PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 9

Case Studies on Good

Governance
 TOPICS

This booklet consist of the following topics:

1. Promoting Competition

2. Simplifying Transactions

3. Restructuring Agency Processes

4. Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms

5. Lessons for Improving Service Delivery

6. Information Boxes
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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
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PAPER - 1
BOOKLET - 10

Additional; Readings on Paper-1

 Ushering in Transparency for Good Governance

by

V. K. Parigi, Workstream Leader (Accountable Workstream)

Dr. P. Geeta, Knowledge Manager (Governance & Capacity Building)
Rameesh Kailasam, Senior Manager (Finance, Administration & Contracts)
Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad

Transparency means that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a
manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is
freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such
decisions and their enforcement. Transparency ensures that enough
information is provided and that it is provided in easily understandable forms
and media.

This paper discusses the need for promoting transparency in decision making
in government through enhanced public participation, fixing accountability
of various actors and stakeholders for ushering in an era of good governance.

November 2004
 Ushering in Transparency for Good Governance
V. K. Parigi, Dr. P. Geeta, & Rameesh Kailasam
Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad

Good Governance

"The exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a

country's affairs at all levels. It comprises of the mechanisms, processes and
institutions, through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their
legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences." - UNDP

Two aspects of this definition merit closer attention.

Aspect 1: The concept of governance is broader than government

Governance is normally described as involving government, civil society and the

private sector in managing the affairs of a nation, which means that the responsibility
for managing the affairs of a nation is not limited to government alone, but includes a
wide variety of stakeholders including: state government, local governments; the
private sector; non-governmental and community-based organizations (NGOs/CBOs),
the media, professional associations and other members of civil society. And each
actor has a specific role to play based on its source of legitimacy and comparative
advantage.

Aspect 2: The concept of governance focuses on institutions and processes

In the context of allocating resources priorities need to be established through

processes that involve all stakeholders in decision-making. Transparency in decision-
making processes and in institutions has the potential to become a central strategy for
engaging stakeholders and improving the quality of overall governance.

In the present context, therefore, good governance describes a situation in which the
mechanisms, processes and instruments for decision-making and action facilitate
greater civic engagement through a participatory approach.

Transparency: Core principle of Good Governance

Good governance has major characteristics like participation, rule of law,

transparency, responsiveness, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness, efficiency,
accountability and strategic vision and consensus orientation. It assures that
corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the
voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making and
implementation. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society,
balancing between growth and distribution, present and future resource use.
Transparency is widely recognised as a core principle of good governance.
Transparency means sharing information and acting in an open manner. Free access to
information is a key element in promoting transparency. Information, however, must
be timely, relevant, accurate and complete for it to be used effectively. Transparency
is also considered essential for controlling corruption in public life.

Transparency and Civic Engagement

Civic engagement is understood as the active participation of citizens in public life

and their contribution to the common good. The level of trust in the government and
public agencies is a key factor that determines the extent and quality of civic
engagement. Loss of trust can lead to disengagement of citizens and discourage
participation of communities as well as the private sector in functions such as public
services delivery, or even in democratic processes such as elections.

Trust in public bodies is affected by two things:

o the quality of services that individuals and their families receive; and
o how open and honest organizations are about their performance, including their
willingness to admit to and learn from their mistakes.

Transparency helps not only to inform the public about development ideas and
proposals, but also to convince citizens that the public agencies are interested in
listening to their views and responding to their priorities and concerns. This in turn
enhances the legitimacy of the decision-making process and strengthens democratic
principles.

Transparency also influences civic engagement in a more direct manner.

Responsiveness often holds the key to successful involvement of citizens and the
private sector. Governments that share their assessments and plans with citizens and
seek their views on a regular basis can be far more effective in implementing
development programmes with the participation of stakeholders.

Thus transparency can help to stimulate active engagement of the private sector and
civil society in public affairs, thereby confirming the changed role of the government
as an enabler and facilitator of access to, rather than provider and controller of, goods
and services.

Transparency of Information & Disclosure

"A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is

but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever
govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm
themselves with the power knowledge gives."
-James Madison

Information is crucial to good governance as it reflects and captures government

activities and processes. Every citizen of the state has right to access information
under the control of public authorities consistent with public interest. The main
objective of governments providing information to its citizens is not only to promote
openness, transparency and accountability in administration, but also to ensure
participation of people in all matters related to governance.

All developed countries have recognised the need for freedom of information and
most of them have passed the FOI Act. In developing nations or nations in transition,
less than 40% of them have passed these laws. Most of these FOI laws have been
passed in the last decade. In India, the Union Government and state governments of
Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Delhi and Maharashtra have passed Right to
Information laws in the last few years.

Appendix 1 provides a comparison of FOI legislation in India. It compares the salient

features of the FOI laws of the Indian Union and States in terms of certain features:
scope of Act, fee for getting information, exceptions, time limit, urgent requests, suo
motu disclosures, appeals, private bodies, means of communications, publicity for the
act, training of civil servants, penalties and overseeing body.

Study of FOI legislations and their implementation suggests that a number of

bottlenecks exist in the way of free flow of information to the citizens which should
be removed for ushering in greater transparency. This requires the following:

• Strengthening of FOI legislation on the patterns of the Maharashtra and Delhi

Acts.
• Government Departments to provide their Annual Activity and Performance
Reports to civil society groups and the public with broadly agreed contents;
• Information about the services rendered by Departments, rules and regulations,
etc. to be placed in the public domain;
o Interactive sessions may be held by the Heads of the Departments with the
public to elicit citizens’ views on policies and programmes;
o Public access to budgetary processes and budget reports.
o Placing all Government Orders on the websites of the Departments;
o Public access to various reports of Committees and Commissions
appointed by the Government;
• Publication of white papers on all importance governance matters concerning the
public by public bodies;
• Measurement Books or ‘M Books’ of public works departments may be put in the
public domain on departmental websites.
• The public may have access to quality inspection documents relating to all major
public works.

Production and Dissemination of White Papers

Information is a key factor to ensure efficient and effective public services. It not only
empowers the people to exert demand for better services, it also empowers the service
providers to benchmark and make effort to provide deter services. The following
suggestions are for consideration:

• Production and dissemination of white papers by all Government

Departments/Agencies/Undertakings on implementation of programmes and
projects to be made mandatory;
• Steps may be taken to create a public opinion and to educate the people about the
decisions of the Governments at various levels; this can be achieved by placing on
the table of the State Legislature, white papers on various issues in standard
formats.
• These white papers will have to be given wide publicity through print and
electronic media.
• Discussions, seminars, meetings and similar other public discourses will have to
be organised to explain the pros and cons of the problems at all levels. Senior
officers of the government as also Ministers will have to actively participate in
these endeavours.
• The administration will have to be proactive rather than merely reacting to public
criticism as at present.
• This will require a change in the mindset of the higher bureaucracy; periodical
training, change management and refresher courses will help in this task.
• Every public undertaking/agency receiving money from the Government should
produce and place in the public domain annual report containing the structure of
the entity, vision, mission, functions, who worked in what capacities, what works
were undertaken, how expenditures were made and on what, achievements and
failure, details of independent scrutiny made on use of fund, and outstanding
results, if any.
• Each State Government may bring out each year a white paper on its public
revenues and public expenditure and pose for public discussion and debate options
which are available, in the short and medium term, for dealing with the situation.

The concept of a Public Disclosure Commission as in some advanced countries may

be experimented to guide and monitor statutory disclosures and aid citizens in the
availability of information they need.

Citizen’s Charters & Service Charters

In a democracy all power belongs to the people. They elect the government and the
government, in turn, must be accountable to the people. In this regard the preparation,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Citizen’s Charters is absolutely
essential. A Citizens’ Charter must adhere to the following principles:

• Consultation: People should be consulted regarding service levels & quality of

service
• Service Standards: People must be made aware of what to expect in terms of
level and quality of services
• Access: People should have equal access to the services to which they are entitled
• Courtesy: People should be treated with courtesy and consideration
• Information: People must receive full and accurate information about their
services
• Openness and Transparency: People should be informed about government
departments’ operations, budget and management structures
• Redress: People are entitled to an apology, explanation and remedial action if the
promised standard of service is not delivered
• Value for Money: Public services should be provided economically and
efficiently
The implementation of citizen’s charters must be monitored publicly and public
service report cards be published to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

Redressal of Public Grievances

Machinery for redress of public grievances has to be strengthened in every

Ministry/Department, fixing of time limits for disposal of public grievances. An
online computerized Public Grievances Redressal and Monitoring System (PGRAMS)
may be operated to facilitate citizens to lodge and monitor the progress of their
grievances on internet. An independent authority - a grievances redressal authority -
may oversee the action on redressal of public grievances. The following suggestions
may be considered:

• Establishment of an Institution of Ombudsman to oversee redressal of grievances

(as in Insurance and Banking Sectors) or a Public Grievance Commission (as in
Delhi)
• Strengthening of Consumer Courts
• Establishment of a grievance redressal machinery under citizens’ charter
• Establishment of Call Centre and development of a web-enabled grievances
disposal monitoring system;
• Involvement of civil society in the processing and tracking disposal of grievances;
• Fixing time frames for grievance redressal;
• Monitoring of grievance redressal at the Head of the Department, Secretary and
Minister levels periodically using computerized monitoring system and placing
the results before the public.

Publishing Annual Performance Report

An Annual White Paper reporting Performance during the year could be contemplated
keeping in view the following components:

• Targets and performance during the financial year in terms of measurable

indicators;
• Comparison with targets and performance in previous year;
• Measures taken for performance improvement;
• Peoples’ feedback and ‘Value for Money’ reports
• Development priorities and performance targets for the following year
• Financial statements for the year reported
• Financial Audit Report
• Performance Audit Report

The principles and guidelines for performance audit need to be spelt out and made
available to public agencies.

Financial Transparency in Government

Accountability and transparency are indispensable pillars of good governance that

compel the state and civil society to focus on results, seek clear objectives, develop
effective strategies, and monitor and report on performance. Through public financial
accountability and transparency, governments can achieve congruence between public
policy, its implementation and the efficient allocation of resources. Lack of financial
accountability could lead to inefficiency, waste, and pilferages, and even impede
development.

The three components of the financial transparency cycle are:

• Records Management : Creation, Maintenance and Use Disposition;
• Accounting: Planning, Budgeting and Expenditure, Internal Control and Internal
Auditing, and Financial Reporting;
• External Auditing: Compliance, Value-for-Money and Certification Auditing.

Public Access to Information on Public Finances

Increased transparency of and the public’s access to, information on public finances is
essential to supplement legislative scrutiny. Opportunities need to be provided for
public consultation or participation throughout the budget process. Development and
maintenance of avenues for filing, follow up and redressal of public complaints to
support identification of instances of waste and mismanagement of resources is
essential. Public expenditure impact and efficacy studies may be conducted from
time to time by credible agencies and placed in the public domain.

Fiscal Responsibility Legislation

There is need for a Fiscal Responsibility Legislation to improve and enhance

accountability in the conduct of fiscal policy by specifying principles of responsible
fiscal management by strengthening the reporting requirements of the Government
and for other purposes. The Act should enunciate fiscal management principles and
measures for fiscal transparency. Accordingly, the Government would need to ensure
that borrowings are used for productive purposes and for accumulation of capital
assets and not for financing current expenditure. The Government would also need to
ensure a reasonable degree of stability and predictability in the level of tax burden and
maintain the integrity of the tax system by minimizing special incentives, concessions
and exemptions. The non-tax revenue policies would be in due regard to cost recovery
and equity.

Transparency in Public Procurement Legislation

All procurement in government may be regulated by a Transparency in Public

Procurement Legislation. This law may be enacted for ensuring transparency in public
purchase of goods and services, in selecting tenderers, or inviting, processing and
acceptance of tenders by procurement entities including e-procurement agencies. It is
meant to provide a legal framework for all public procurement and should be
applicable to Government Departments, Public Sector Undertakings, Universities,
Panchayats, Local Bodies, Statutory Boards, and those who receive money from
Government, etc.,
Developing a Framework for Transparency

Good Governance Approach

It will be useful to review the comparative advantage of the major stakeholders in

promoting good governance before finalizing the strategies for promoting
transparency through the governance approach.

The Government

The government that is accountable to people and is bound by the law of the land can
rightly claim to act on behalf of the people. Leadership, therefore, is government's
pre-eminent role in promoting good governance. This leadership applies in particular
to ensuring an equitable distribution of benefits and to creating an enabling
framework for development. The strategy of the government therefore would include
passing laws, reforming the civil service, and promoting economic liberalisation, and
also promote public awareness on specific issues. An open government should be a
goal and disclosure rather than secrecy should be the norm of governance.

Private Sector

The role of private sector is very important as it is an important means of creating jobs
and employment that in turn generate revenue through taxes. These taxes are used by
the government to design the social programmes that benefit citizens. Therefore, the
private sector and the government need to work towards in harmony and
understanding for providing better opportunities for citizens. Transparent corporate
governance is a must for a responsible private sector.

Non-Governmental and Community-based Organizations (NGOs/CBOs)

The NGOs and CBOs promote the interests of citizens, particularly under-represented
groups such as women and the poor. Another aspect of their legitimacy is their
explicit not-for-profit orientation. Transparency, however, is as vital to these
organizations as it is for government and the private sector. Their advocacy role can
be undermined by undemocratic internal structures that may raise suspicion regarding
their motives or their not-for-profit status.

Media

The media have an important role to play in promoting good governance. Their role
should not be seen as limited to identifying and exposing corruption, but should also
recognise and capitalise on their role as a source of truth. They have an important role
to play in reinforcing and building momentum for change by recognising good
practice and highlighting successes in achieving development objectives. Like non-
governmental organizations, however, their credibility may be undermined by
unprofessional conduct that leads to questions regarding their bias.
 Professional Associations

The legitimacy of these organizations is based on the professional standards they

profess to uphold. Their responsibility regarding promoting good governance and
combating corruption is to publish and disseminate their standards and sanction those
members who violate them including codes of ethics or anti-corruption clauses in
their membership requirements can serve as valuable tools that contribute to creating
a culture intolerant of corruption.

The Individual Citizen

Good governance cannot succeed without committed individuals. While the rights of
individuals are widely discussed when it comes to issues of corruption, they also have
a responsibility to promote good governance: to be informed and to actively
participate in the decisions that affect their lives. The responsibility of individuals
taking on leadership roles is also equally important. The office holders must act with
integrity on behalf of those they act in trust. Integrity improvements at the level of the
individual, therefore, have an important role to play.

Good governance requires that all the actors engaged in the governance process
follow well-defined codes of conduct and their public affairs are subject to scrutiny by
the public under legally stipulated procedures.

We recommend the following strategy for transparency to promote good governance.

Strategy for Transparency and Good Governance

SL Strategy Specific Initiatives
No
1 Strategy 1: Access to • Access to Information Laws
information o Right to information legislation
o Records Management laws and Computerisation
o Whistle Blower Protection
o Disclosure of Income and Assets subject to rules
o Complaints and Ombudsman Office
• Putting information in the public domain
o Putting up ‘M’ books on the website
o Web based approvals to be put on the website
2 Strategy 2: Ethics and • Developing and implementing model code of conduct
Integrity for political representatives, civil service, judiciary,
civil society groups etc
• Removal of all discretionary powers provided to
officials under the law which may lead to
misappropriation in government
• Public hearings & Public meetings
o Transparency in procedures and systems by
opening up procedures for public review
o Peoples’ estimates; social audit
• Prior consultation with public in the process of policy
making
 Strategy for Transparency and Good Governance
o Participatory budgeting
o Transparency in budget as done by some state
governments
o Independent audit
• Administrative procedure legislation providing for
transparent and accountable administrative action.

3 Strategy 3: Institutional • Public service agreements for delivery of services by

reforms executive agencies – holding them accountable
objectively and transparently
• Participation of stakeholders in various decision making
processes
o Citizen committees to be a part of the decision
making process
o Encourage and facilitate public participation
through

Public Hearings

Study Circles

Citizen Advisory Boards

Government Contract Committees

Public Watchdog Groups

Independent Anti-Corruption Agencies
• Enhance participatory decision making through
constitution of Citizen Boards and focus groups
• Capacity building of citizen and civil society groups
4 Strategy 4: Targeting • Easy access of government officials to the public
specific issues o Contact numbers of senior officials to be made
available to the public for the purpose of
registration of grievances
o Departmental websites to provide the contact
numbers, emails and other details of senior
officials
• Citizen service facilitation counters

5 Strategy 5: Assessment • Performance Measurement and Management

and Monitoring o Monitoring departmental performances through
performance indicators
o Annual Performance White Papers
• Developing and Implementation of citizens’ charter in
all government departments Citizens’ Charters
o Citizen charters to give timelines of service
delivery
• Publishing Annual Reports
o Dissemination of white papers
o Annual reports published by departments with
pre-specified framework for contents
 References

1. Centre for Good Governance. 2003. A Guide to Developing and Implementing a

Citizens’ Charter. CGG, Hyderabad
2. Centre for Good Governance. A Model Action Plan for Implementing Freedom of
Information. CGG, Hyderabad, 2003.
3. Centre for Good Governance. A Draft on the Model Code of Good Governance,
prepared for the Government of India. 2004. CGG.
4. Centre for Good Governance. State Financial Accountability Assessment
Methodology. CGG, Hyderabad, 2003.
5. Centre for Good Governance, Andhra Pradesh Performance Accountability Bill
2003, CGG, Hyderabad.
6. Report of the National Commission for the Review of the Working of the
Constitution. 2002.
7. Devesh Kapur, The State in a Changing World: A Critique of the 1997 World
Development Report, Harvard University Weatherhead Center for International
Affairs, Working Paper Series 98-02 February 1998.
8. United Nations Development Programme. Governance for Sustainable Human
Development: A UNDP Policy Document on Good Governance. 1997. New York.
9. Johanna Mendelson Forman, Promoting Civil Society in Good Governance:
Lessons for the Security Sector, Paper Prepared for the Workshop “Promoting
Civil Society in Good Governance: Lessons for the Security Sector” held on 15-16
April, 2002 in Prague, Czech Republic.
 Appendix 1
Comparison of FOI Laws of the Indian Union and Indian States

Provision Goa 1997 Tamil Nadu Rajasthan Karnataka Delhi 2001 Maharashtra FOI Bill 2000 Recommended
1997 2000 2000 2002
Scope of Act Can obtain Can obtain Can obtain Can obtain Can obtain Obtaining Obtaining The scope of the
certified certified certified certified certified certified copies of certified copies Act should be
copies of copies of copies of copies of copies of documents or of documents or wide enough to
documents or documents or documents documents documents records. records, cover the various
records, records. or records, or records. or records, inspection of ways in which
inspection of inspection of inspection of records, taking information can be
records, records, records, notes and obtained by the
taking notes taking notes taking notes extracts. citizens.
and extracts, and extracts, and extracts,
inspection of inspection of inspection of
public works, public public
taking sample works, works,
of material taking taking
from public sample of sample of
work. material material
from public from public
work. work.
Fee Not No provision To be To be Not Charges for To be Should not exceed
exceeding prescribed. prescribed; exceeding processing and prescribed. cost of processing
cost of Decided and not to cost of making available Provisions for and making
processing paid at the exceed processing information. additional fees. available
and providing time of actual cost and making information and
information. request and of available waiver where
information supplying. information. payment of fee is
may be likely to cause
refused if financial hardship.
not paid.
Exceptions 6 exemptions 22 10 8 8 11 exemptions 7 exemptions + Limited to specific
but exemptions + exemptions exemptions with some public 4 grounds for requirements for
information 2 additional +4 interest override refusal. non- disclosure;
 given to State broad exemptions additional + 3 additional Information to no class
legislature exemptions grounds for grounds for be given if exceptions; public
available to refusal refusal. Also any reasonably interest override.
citizens information that severable.
has to be
disclosed to
Parliament/
Legislative
Assembly will be
available to
applicants. Info to
be given if
reasonably
severable.
Time Limit 30 working 30 working 30 working 15 working Normally 15 working days 30 working Shorter time limit
days for days days for days for within 15 from granting or days for for refusal
granting or granting or granting days, but can refusing – granting or
refusing refusing information be extended provision for refusing.
request request from date of to 30 days. extension by
receipt of another 15 days
payment of with reasons.
fee; or
refusing
request
within 15
days from
the date of
application.
Urgent If required for No provision No No No provision Within 24 hours Within 48 If required for life
Requests life and provision provision of the request hours, and liberty, then
liberty, within involving life and concerning life within 24 hrs.
48 hrs. liberty of a and liberty of a
person. person.
Suo Motu No provision No provision Wide Particulars Particulars Particulars of Particulars of There should be a
Disclosures discretion to of of organisation, its organisation, its mandatory time-
 exhibit or organisation, organisation, functions, power functions, bound disclosure
expose its functions, its functions, and duties of power and for all categories
information. power and power and officers, norms, duties of of information that
duties of duties of rules, regulations, officers, norms, would be of use to
officers, officers, list of records rules, the public at large.
norms, norms, laws, available to regulations, list Such information
details of rules, citizens, details of of records should be
facilities to regulations, facilities to get available to periodically
get list of information, facts citizens, details updated and
information, records related to any of facilities to published.
its decisions, available to decision and get info, facts
facts related citizens, project scheme related to any
to any details of before the decision,
project facilities to initiation of the reasons for its
scheme get same, and other decisions, and
before the information, information as project scheme
initiation of facts related may be before the
the same, to any prescribed. initiation of the
etc. decision, same, etc.
reasons for
its decisions,
and project
scheme
before the
initiation of
the same,
etc.
Appeals No internal One internal Internal 1st appeal to Appeal to an First appeal to Internal appeals Independent forum
appeal; appeal, but appeal, be independent internal appellate as prescribed, for appeal
appeal to appeals to Appeal to prescribed, body, the authority and 2nd appeal to essential. Court
administrative courts barred. district 2nd appeal to Public second appeal to govt. but courts appeal not
tribunal. vigilance appellate Grievances Lokayukta/Upa- barred. recommended in
Commission tribunal, but Commission, Lokayukta whose India as it is time-
or civil courts but courts decision is final. consuming.
service barred. barred. Jurisdiction of
 tribunal, courts barred.
courts
barred.
Private Bodies Private bodies No provision No No No provision Includes any body No provision Private bodies
executing provision provision which gets aid getting aid from
work for or (directly or government –
on behalf of indirectly) from from taxpayers’
the government money must be
government. including aid like covered.
tax benefits, land
concessions, etc.
Means of No provision No provision No No No provision No provision No provision Specific directions
Communication provision provision for effective
communication of
information.
Publicity for No provision No provision No No No provision No provision No provision Mandatory to
the Act provision provision publicise
provisions of the
Act.
Training of No provision No provision No No No provision No provision No provision Mandatory
Civil Servants provision provision provisions for
training.
Penalties Penalties and No provision Disciplinary For delay Disciplinary Appellate No provision Penalties for
discretionary action and without action and authority can wrongful delay,
imposition of penalties to reasonable penalties to impose fine of wrong information
Rs.100/day be described cause or be Rs. 250 per day or unjustified
for delay. supplying prescribed in for delay and up refusal are
wrong the Rules. to Rs. 2000 on important checks
information Public Info. on arbitrariness in
up to Officer for handling
Rs.2000/- knowingly giving information
fine + incorrect/ requests.
disciplinary misleading info/
action. wrong/incomplete
info. Apart from
 this PIO subject
to disciplinary
proceedings.
Overseeing State Council No provision No No State State Council-not No provision Need regulatory
Body provision provision Council regulatory body, overseeing body
but empowered to
monitor and
review the
working of the
Act every six
months.
Additionally, a
Records
Commission will
advise the Govt.
on release of old
records to the
public.

Source: Global Trends on the Right to Information: A Survey of South Asia, Article 19, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, July 2001.
 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT 
 
—D.V.L.N. Murthy and A. Vijay Krishna 

Introduction
The cornerstone of Good Governance is that state institutions should become more
efficient, transparent, and accountable. Good governance can prevent systems and
institutions that protect the vulnerable from getting destroyed during a crisis.
According to UNDP, judicial and legal reforms are crucial for good governance1.
Courts offer a means for resolving disputes in a just manner. Justice forms the basis
of a lasting social order. Since every citizen looks to the judiciary as a last resort for
justice and if the judiciary does not live up to this expectation, then people will take to
the streets and there will be chaos in the country. Keeping in view the power and the
trust vested in the judiciary, every effort must be made to bring about reforms in the
judicial process so that it can meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The World Development Report—2002 states that the efficiency of a court can be
defined in terms of the speed, cost and fairness with which judicial decisions are made
and the access that aggrieved citizens have to the court2. The report identifies
procedural complexity and complex regulations as one of the main reasons for
inefficiency. It also states that these factors are likely to lead to more delays in
developing countries than in developed countries. Developed countries have
complementary institutions and capacity to increase efficiency, which the developing
countries seem to lack. The graphs below illustrate this scenario.

It has been found in several studies that introducing computer systems or other kinds
of mechanisation in the judiciary helps reduce delays. Mechanised systems provide
increased accountability. “Computerised case inventories are more accurate and
1
UNDP (2002). “UNDP Priorities in Support of Good Governance,” in Governance for Sustainable
Human Development, A UNDP policy document.
2
World Bank (2002). “The Judicial System,” in World Development Report—2002, pp 118.

1 Centre for Good Governance

CGG Collected Working Papers: 2003 – Volume 1

easier to handle than the paper-based procedures they replace, and more than one
person can have access to them, which makes them harder to manipulate.”3 The
answer to make the judicial process system more efficient and responsive might lie in
introducing better technology. There is great scope for reducing arrears, lightening
judicial loads and eliminating litigants’ problems through application of technology.
Judiciary should take the initiative to use modern technologies in the day-to-day
affairs of the court. This working paper will look at the possibility of introducing ‘e-
tools’ at the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal.

Article 323-A of the Constitution created Administrative Tribunals for adjudication of

disputes relating to service matters of employees in public service for the centre and
other states. The outcome of this exercise is the Administrative Tribunal Act 1985.

An Act to provide for the adjudication or trial by Administrative

Tribunals of disputes and complaints with respect to recruitment and
conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts
in connection with the affairs of the Union or of any State or of any
local or other authority within the territory of India or under the
control of the Government of India or of 1[any corporation or society
owned or controlled by the Government in pursuance of Article 323-A
of the Constitution] and for the matters connected therewith or
incidental thereto.

Current Reality
At present there is no online monitoring tool to keep track of the number of writ
petitions (OAs) being filed and the status of replies by respondents in Andhra Pradesh
Administrative Tribunal (APAT). List of new cases for admission are placed before
the Chairman of the APAT at the end of the day (by 6:00 pm) for generating cause
lists, which forms the backbone of the court. Another crucial problem is the lack of
any file tracking mechanism to know the actual status of a case. Lot of routine work
is being carried out manually every day.

The purpose of this study is to focus on areas where the court procedure can be used
more efficiently with the aid of modern ‘e-tools.’ The intention is to identify the main
areas contributing to litigation by carrying out an in-depth analysis and to suggest
remedial measures to deal with this problem.

Number of OAs filed every year: An analysis of the category-wise contribution

The analysis is split into two levels. The first level shows individual contributions of
each category every year. For each year, the category contributing to 5% or more of
the inflow is taken into account. The table below shows the categories contributing to
5 % or more of the OAs filed in the APAT.

Category 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Appointment 20 22 22 20 20 22 23 27
Promotion 26 23 20 16 15 19 16 16
Seniority 19 19 15 12 8 8 5 4
Absorption & 5 5 5 8 5 7 8 6

3
World Bank (2002). “The Judicial System”, in World Development Report 2002., pp 129.

Centre for Good Governance 2

 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

Regularisation
Major 6 6 8 9 11 6 6 7
punishment
Suspension 6 5 5 7 4
Pay Fixation 5 5
& Recovery
Pensionary 5 5
benefits
Transfers 8 10
Total 76 75 70 71 69 80 70 79
Note: All figures given in percentage terms

During the period 1995 to 1997, the five categories of appointment, promotion,
seniority, absorption and regularisation, and major punishment contributed to the
majority of OAs being filed at the APAT. From the year 1998 onwards, suspensions
also contributed to more than 5% of the OAs being filed. In the period covering 1999
and 2002, another new category, ‘pay fixation and recovery’ contributed to more than
5% of the cases. However, this category is not significant throughout the sample
period. Pensionary benefits are high in 2000 and 2001 and transfers are high in 2000
and 2002. Most of the pension cases are likely to be related to administrative issues
and are likely to be cleared quickly. Similarly, in the case of transfers, most of the
cases are related to general transfers and are likely to be disposed off quickly by the
tribunal. Interestingly, transfers contribute to nearly 10% of litigations in 2002,
resulting in the distortion of more important areas like seniority and suspension which
drop down to 4%. However, most of these transfer cases falling under the general
transfer category, which are likely to be disposed off in the first quarter of 2003,
making the other two areas namely, seniority and suspensions, more significant. In
general, the first five categories contribute to more than 60% of the litigations.

The second level of analysis deals with entire sample period from 1995 to 2002.
Those categories contributing to more than 5% of the cases filed are taken into
account.

Category 1995-2002
Appointment 23
Promotion 18
Seniority 9
Absorption & Regularisation 7
Major Punishment 7
Transfers 6
Total 70%

Over the entire sample period from 1995 to 2002, the six categories of appointment,
promotion, seniority, major punishment, absorption and regularisation and transfers
contribute to more than 70% of the total number of OAs filed in the APAT. Out of
these six areas, one can discount transfers to a great extent as they are mostly cases
relating to general transfers which are likely to be disposed off quickly. The other
five areas have been identified as the areas which deserve special attention. This can
be done by improving the existing judicial process (e.g., through introduction of
technology) and also by looking into the alternatives (e.g., alternative dispute
resolution mechanisms) which can be put into place to reduce the flow of OAs to the

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court area. Another aspect which needs to be studied is whether the current
government policy regarding the above five categories is contributing to more
litigations. If this is the case, then one needs to take corrective steps to rectify the
current government policy and introduce more dynamic policies which are more
foolproof and litigation free.

For a graphical representation of the above analysis refer to the diagrams below:

CATEGORY WISE OA CASES

1995 1996

A
Other Other A
20%
24% 22%
25%

MajP
6% MajP
P 6%
A/R
26% P
5% A/R
23%
S 5%
19% S
19%

1997 1998

A
A
20%
22% Other
Other 29%
30%

P
16%
Sus
P
6%
MajP 20%
8% MajP
S
A/R 9% A/R
12%
5% S 8%
15%

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1999 2000

A Others A
20% 20% 22%
Other
31%

Sus
5%
P
MajP
15%
Sus 6% P
5% PB 19%
MajP S 5% T
11% PF/R A/R 8% 8% A/R S
5% 5% 8%
7%

2002
2001
Others
A 21% A
Others 23% 27%
30%
Sus
4%
MajP
7%
Sus P P
16% T 16%
7%
10% S
A/R
MajP S 4%
PB PF/R 6%
6% A/R 5%
5% 5%
8%

Category Wise OA Cases 1995-2002

A
Others 23%
30%

T P
6% 18%
MajP
7% A/R S
7% 9%

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The above diagrams clearly show that the five categories of appointments,
promotions, seniority, absorption and regularisation, and major punishments are
contributing to the maximum amount of litigations consistently. The data does not
reveal any inconsistency between the years, except that a new category of suspensions
becomes more significant since 1999. Intermittently, one also observes that pay
fixation and recovery and transfers are significant, albeit inconsistently. One must
exercise caution while considering major punishments as one of the significant
categories. The APAT (OA cases) files from 1995 to 1999 did not specify whether
the punishment was major or minor in a majority of cases. Hence, it was decided to
classify the punishment as major or minor on a purely arbitrary basis. Therefore, it is
quite possible that some of the cases classified as major punishments belong to the
minor punishment category or vice-versa. However, from 2000 onwards it was
specified whether the penalty was major or minor and the above problem ceased to
exist. Nonetheless, punishments as a whole are a significant contributing factor to
litigations in courts.

From the above analysis the following key areas were identified for an in-depth
analysis:

¾ Seniority
¾ Promotions
¾ Transfers
¾ Appointments
¾ Suspensions
¾ Penalties

The above analysis was possible due to the use of ‘e-tools’, which help not only in
simplifying a process but also in analysing a current situation. The entire database of
22,000 cases was analysed. This was made possible due to the use of modern
technology and statistical applications.

Use of ‘e-tools’ in admission, hearing and post admission stage

Admission Stage: Modernisation and Application of IT-an Endogenous Solution

Implementing a judicial database that makes it easy to track and difficult to
manipulate or misplace cases is paramount. It can enhance accountability and
consequently, the speed of adjudication.

The study revealed that by the end of December 2002, the number of cases pending in
the Administrative Tribunal, which is a special service matters court, stood at 22,723
cases. The statement discloses that cases relating to year 1990 are still pending. Even
contempt of court cases numbering 1,679 are also pending.

During the year 1993, the National Informatics Centre conducted a systems study of
computerisation of APAT. The NIC developed a software package containing a list
of business information systems which is about scheduling of cases to be heard by
court on the following day. Firstly, it enabled the generation of cause lists. Secondly,
Case Law information system was developed which contains a complete set of
reported judgements of the tribunal. Precedence of a case can be traced by the system
(however, the survey reveals that the system is not in operation). Thirdly, web

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hosting of the cause list was developed. The cause lists of the APAT on the internet
include daily cause list and a supplementary list. The website for accessing the cause
list is http://causelists.nic.in. The lawyers are able to receive the cause list by 6:00
pm. It also enables access by parties, court-wise and advocate- wise.

After studying the existing system in the administrative tribunal, we adopted a result
oriented managerial approach for finding solutions, the main emphasis being on
productivity. A litigant government servant comes into contact with the tribunal
when he/she files his original application explaining personal grievance/s and the
relief sought for. In the majority of the cases, they pray for an interim relief at the
hands of the judges. At present the Assistant Registrars of the tribunal receive the
original applications manually and scrutinise the applications with a check list
containing 28 items. After a detailed analysis, we found that the items could be
reduced to 21 and filing can also be made possible by electronic tools.

The electronic case filing (ECF) system allows registered participants with internet
access and necessary software to access the court’s webpage from where they can
have access to the ECF system. It permits filing of pleadings electronically with the
documents, subject to the permission of the judges. A system can be developed for
viewing official docket sheets and documents associated with the cases. Similarly,
subject to the acceptance of payment of fees by credit cards, a lawyer or law firm
filing a document requiring a fee can be permitted to pay by credit card. The lawyer
or law firm must first establish an account with the court office. If a lawyer or a law
firm files a document which requires a filing fee without first having established a
credit card account, such fee must be delivered to the registrar’s office before the
close of the next business day. The ECF system has a unique advantage of filing of
documents by a lawyer from his office. On scrutiny and acceptance by the assistant
registrars after due process of checking according to the check list, a database can be
developed simultaneously allotting an OA number in serial order on a first come first
served basis. Simultaneous development of database and registration of OAs with
numbers subject-wise enables the registry to place the whole list of OAs received in a
business day by the lunch time before the Chairman of the Tribunal for allotment of
business to various benches. The newly developed tool allows filing of OAs code-
wise (subject-wise). The Chairman of the Tribunal will be able to bunch the cases
together based on the indexing of cases developed by this method and allot work to
the benches by 2:00 pm, according to their specialisation. This means generation of a
cause list on the internet by 2:00 P.M. as against the present practice of 6:00 P.M.
This system enables both the applicants and the respondents to prepare for the next
day’s hearing well in advance.

After a detailed study of the 215 areas in which service litigation is taking place, i.e.,
from recruitment to retirement, we have grouped them into 30 areas. The cases were
bunched into these 30 categories by allotting a specific code to each category. Four
computer terminals with internet access at APAT will enable the system to function
smoothly. The model web pages for the above functions are shown below:

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APAT-CHECKLIST-PRE-ADMISSION STAGE

Applicant's Name

Name of the Advocate

Respondent's Name

Email-id(if any)
1.OA application in triplicate with 2 file pads
Yes No
2.Full Description of cause title
Yes No
3.Court Fee Rs 50 (each applicant paid)
Yes No

i) Draft

ii) Cheque

iii) Credit Card

4. Service on the other side
Yes No
5. Process Fee
Yes No
1
6. Subject Classification code
i) facts
Yes No

7.Limitations i) Rule 18 ii) Rule 19 iii) Rule 20 iv)

Sec 21
8 i) Remedies exhausted - sec 20
Yes No
ii) Matters already filled
Yes No
9.Relief

i)Main
Yes No
ii)Interim
Yes No

10.Mode of filling : Post Person ECF

11.Certificate

i) Verification
Yes No
ii) Declaration
Yes No
12. Vokalat
Yes No
13.MA-permission petition in OA filed
Yes No
14.Material papers with index annexures duly attested by council in three
sets Yes No
15.Rule NISI form
Yes No
16. Covers and acknowledgement slips filed
Yes No

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17. No. of copies for all the respondents filed

Yes No
18.Certificate of filling of all forms
Yes No
19.Brief facts leading to filing of MA
Yes No
20. i) Contempt cases under section 17 of Act 1985
Yes No
OR

ii) Section 10 & 12 of CC Act 1971

Yes No
21.Execution application under section 17 of Act 1985 in form 3
Yes No
22.LR petition
Yes No
23.If filed by an association:

i) By laws

ii) Authorisation letter

iii) Registration certificate

iv) List of members

v) MA

Submit Form Reset Form

Note the provision given for e-mail address, which enables any new developments on the
case to be transmitted directly to the concerned people.

Hearing Stage – Endogenous Solutions

The study revealed that rules permit preparation of ready lists every half year, in the
months of January and June. The registry has to prepare weekly lists and daily lists
out of the ready lists prepared by the court offices. A ready list is a list that is fit to be
presented before the bench for hearing. It pre-supposes a preparation of that list after
receiving the replies of respondents and documents from the respective departments
and is complete and fit in all respects for hearing by a bench. Our study revealed that
cause lists running into five or six pages with more than hundred cases are listed
before the benches. While the average disposal per judge per day is in the order of
four to five cases, in order to enable the judicial process system to function effectively
and efficiently, a systematic preparation of calendar of cases has to be prepared to
reduce congestion in court halls and save the time taken for call work. Courts function
only from 10:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. and from 2:30 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. An operative
list of calendar of cases reduces the off take of call work time and enables the bench
to dispose off more number of cases in the time saved.

The cause list is the backbone in the judicial process system. Listing of cases
classification-wise and bench-wise (considering the expertise of a bench in a specific
area) will improve the delivery system. Subject to the discretion and allotment of
work by the Chairman, each bench normally handles:

1. Mention matters
2. Contempt matters
3. Admissions
4. Miscellaneous matters

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5. Part heard matters

6. Final hearing

Cause List Details

2003-04-10
Select Date

Submit

The cause list is automatically generated by the system each day and a unique OA
number is allotted to each case filed.

Cause List For2003-07-10

Case No Applicant Name Advocate Name Respondent Name

72 ABC XYZ Revenue Department
73 ABC XYZ Revenue Department

The above frame shows the format in which a cause list will appear on a given day.

At the time of admission of new OAs, after hearing the applicant and the respondent,
the bench has many options. Taking these options into consideration, the following
web page was developed for communicating orders through the internet. The
following is the format.

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 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

APAT-ADMISSION STAGE-COURT HALL

OA NUMBER CODE
1. Admit(A)

2. Admit with interim order(IO)

3. Notice Before Admission(NBA)

4. Adjourned to date(ADJ) March 05 2003

5. Dismissed

6. Reserved

Submit Addmission

At present, computers are not provided in the court hall. Since the judgement of a
bench on admission matters revolves around the six areas listed above, using
computers in the court hall with internet access will expedite the process of dispatch
of orders and also help update the database simultaneously. Such an arrangement of
the database has an added advantage as it permits retrieval and preparation of updated
cause lists. The registry will be in a position to create an updated weekly list and
monthly list for operation. It also meets the purpose of serving notices on both sides.

The ECF system also enables monitoring of the number of adjournments granted.
Administrative Tribunal rules permit the recovery of costs occasioned by
adjournments by both parties and if the rule is enforced, it will have a salutary effect
on preventing the adoption of delay tactics by the litigant government servants,
besides ensuring effective and expeditious disposal of cases and meeting the costs of
modernisation.

Post Admission Stage-Endogenous Solutions

At present, judgements are dictated in the open court in a large number of cases and
reserved in a few cases. In both these methods, judgements are dictated, typed,
corrected and fair copied on typewriters and kept in sealed covers for pronouncement
in the open court. A copy of the judgement is given free of cost to the applicant. The
introduction of ECF makes the job of the court masters easy by allowing use of the
latest word processing techniques to type judgements. ECF enables the dispatch of
judgement copies to the parties a lot faster than is currently being done.

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File Transaction details

ENTER FILE TRANSACTION DETAILS

CATEGORY C.A

CASE NO. 1001

SEND TO

comments

Public Interface with the Tribunal

Computerisation is proposed for court orders, documents, proceedings, copies of
petitions, counters, rejoinders, etc., as and when required by the litigants. At present
it takes more than fifteen days for the supply of certified copies. Using ECF process
will reduce the requirement of manpower in the copying section and will also
eliminate the manual handling of case files by the court officers as the required
material can be retrieved from the system to generate a hard copy.

File monitoring system

In the APAT, file movement is an important event. After a case is registered, the case
file is sent to the judicial section for placing before the appropriate bench. After
hearing the arguments, the bench clerk hands over the case file along with the
documents to the court master for taking dictation of judgements. After the
pronouncement of the judgement in open court, the files are transmitted to the bench
clerk and through him to the records section. As is well known, records and
documents play an important part in the judicial process. Any misplacement of
important documents at any stage hampers the judicial process. The ECF system
developed by us, thus, enables the tracking of a file.

File tracking details

ENTER FILE DATA

CATEGORY C.A

CASE NO.

DATE(YYYY-MM-DD) July 10 2003

SUBJECT

CURRENT INCHARGE COURTMASTER

SENT TO

Submit File Info

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 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

About file data

QUERY FILE DATA

CATEGORY C.A

CASE NO.

Submit Fie Info

File data will appear in the format shown below:

Category Case No. Date Subject Status Send To
OA 74 2003-07-11 Appointment COURTMASTER/admit Benchmaster

Apart from the details of the individual files, a complete list of cases filed and their
movement within the Tribunal can be monitored through the record room which will
contain a comprehensive database of all the cases.

Record Room Details

Report of Record room

Category Case no Date Subject Status Current In-charge

OA 48 2003-03-05 appointment COURTMASTER record room
OA 49 2003-03-06 appointment COURTMASTER record room
OA 50 2003-03-07 appointment COURTMASTER record room

Monitoring cell for Government Pleader’s Office and Departments

Currently there is no monitoring mechanism in place to study the number of cases and
to ascertain whether counters have been filed or not. Certain changes, as mentioned
below, need to be made to the system in employing government pleaders, which
should be able to tackle the problems effectively.

1. The procedure for appointment of government pleaders should envisage

entering into a contract by the ministry of law with an individual counsel. The
terms and conditions of contract should bind the Government pleaders about
the maximum time to be taken for filling a reply after getting relevant material

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from the concerned department. He/she should also be required to inform the
department of the outcome of a case on the same day in writing through fax;
2. The availability of facilities like telephone and fax should be considered a pre-
requisite for empanelment as Government pleader. Internet facility should be
considered an additional advantage for awarding the contract;
3. There should be a panel of pleaders who can be engaged by a department and
the departments should be free to engage any of the counsels in the panel.
This would help in generating competitiveness among different pleaders with
consequent qualitative improvement in the defence of Government cases;
4. A list of such pleaders indicating their office and residential address/telephone
numbers, Fax number and internet address should be circulated by the
Ministry of Law on January 1st each year and the ministries/departments
should be informed of the changes as and when
replacements/additions/subtractions are made in the list.

Apart from the above mentioned changes, the use of ‘e-tools’ will enable the
departments to monitor the cases being instituted in the tribunal and enable them to
file counters in time. The ‘e-tool’ will help both the judiciary and as well as the
departments in monitoring cases. Certain frames are shown below which can be of
value to the departments in monitoring service matter cases.

Select Year

1995
Select Year From the List

SUBMIT

From the above frame the department can choose all the cases pending in a particular
year.

Subject wise Report for 1999

Total No of Cases 2345

Counter Filed 1324
Non Counter Filed 1018
CF/CNF Not Known 3

1
Select a subject from the List

SUBMIT

Year wise Graph

Analysis Graph

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 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

Taking 1999 as a sample year, the above frame shows an overview of the total
number of cases pending in the year 1999 along with the information on the number
of cases where counter has been filed/not filed.

Counter/Non-Counter Graph for the year 1999

The above frame shows a graphical representation of the number of cases where
counters have been filed/not filed. In spite of four years passing by, counters have not
been filed in 44% of the cases.

Subject-wise Report - for Subject 2

Total No of Case = 353

Counter Filed = 202

Non Counter Filed = 151

View Graph

OA.N0 SUBJECT DEPARTMENT CF/CNF

2359 Not permitting the applicant Education CF
2404 Promotion Education CF
2405 Promotion Education CF
2417 Cancellation of promotion Education ZPP CF
2446 Qng Promotion of R4 SW CF
2756 Promotion MPLTY CNF
2774 Promotion Education CNF
2781 Promotion Excise CNF
2788 Promotion Education CNF
2829 Promotion Cooperation CNF

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Along with a general overview on the number of pending case, counters filed/not
filed, etc., one can view subject specific information regarding the counters filed or
not filed. The above frame shows a sample from the year 1999 relating to the subject
of promotion.

Apart from providing information on pending cases, the ‘e-tool’ is also capable of
analysing the areas where the litigation is ≥ 5%. This enables both the judiciary and
government to focus on main litigation areas and take necessary remedial measures.

Stringent application of rules reduces delay and costs

Rule 11 of the AT procedure rules deals with the various methods of service of
notices and processes issued by the tribunal. If this rule is meticulously followed, no
case needs to be adjourned for want of service of notice.

Rule 12 deals with filing of reply and other documents by respondents. Under this
rule, respondents shall file the reply within one month of the service of the notice.
Unfortunately, this mandatory rule is never fulfilled in the majority of the cases as
seen from the case study. The same rule also prescribes a method of service of reply
and documents on the applicant.

Rule 17 deals with the disposal of an OA for the applicants default. The rule states:

Where on the date fixed for hearing of the application or on any other
day to which such hearing may be adjourned, the applicant does not
appear when the application is called for hearing, the tribunal may, in
its discretion, either dismiss the application for default or hear and
decide it on merit.

Likewise, Rule 18 deals with ex-parte hearing and disposal of applications (OA):

Where on the date fixed for hearing the application or on any other
date to which such a hearing may be adjourned, the applicant appears
and the respondent does not appear then the application is called for
hearing, the tribunal, may in its discretion adjourn the hearing or hear
and decide the application ex-parte.

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This rule gives a right to the affected party to move the court for a review of its order
on production of a sufficient cause for not appearing in the court. However, Rule 9
prescribes an outer limit of 30 days from the date of the order for filing such review
petitions.

Rule 21 empowers the tribunal to grant adjournment and also order recovery of costs.
Although the framework of rules permits to tackle such problems, unfortunately these
rules are not being put to effective and proper use. By sticking to these rules, a case
can be disposed off within six months as prescribed.

Conclusion
The ‘e-tool’ discussed above strengthens the hands of the judiciary by enabling more
effective implementation of the above mentioned rules. The software enables easy
service of notice, along with filing of counters and it can also monitor the number of
adjournments granted per case. It also strengthens the hand of the concerned
departments by enabling them to monitor cases where counters are pending, etc. By
allowing a case to be filed online it also makes the job of an applicant easier as he/she
will be in a position to file a case from anywhere in the world.

Developing and implementing a judicial software package such as the one described
above increases efficiency in terms of the speed, cost and fairness with which judicial
decisions are made and the access that aggrieved citizens have to the court. The ‘e-
tool’ reduces procedural complexity and enables greater use friendliness. It has been
found in several studies that introducing computer systems or other kinds of
mechanisation in the judiciary helps reduce delays. Mechanised systems provide
increased accountability. Computerised case inventories are more accurate and easier
to handle than the paper-based procedures they replace, and more than one person can
have access to them, which makes them harder to manipulate. The answer to make
the judicial process system more efficient and responsive might lie in introducing
better technology. There is great scope for reducing arrears, lightening judicial loads
and eliminating litigants’ problems through application of technology. Implementing
a judicial database that makes it easy to track and difficult to manipulate or misplace
cases is paramount. It can enhance accountability and consequently, the speed of
adjudication.

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References

Government of Andhra Pradesh. AP Civil Service Rules 1962.

Government of India. Constitution of India.

Government of India. Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.

Government of India. December, 1999. Constitution of Permanent and Continuous Lok

Adalat in Ministeries and Departments of Government of India, Circular – 12/22/99-CL.IV,
Ministry of Law, Justice & Company Affairs. Link: http://www.dca.nic.in/cir/gcir1099.html,
Date visited: 18/1/2003.

Indiainfo.com Law. 2003. Beyond Two is Too Many. Link: http://law.indiainfo.com/tax-

fin/beyondtwo.html, Date visited: 21/12/2002.

Krishna Iyer, V. R. 2003. Judicial Odyssey: Calls for a Just Critique. Link:
http://lawindiainfo.com/constitution/odyssey.html, Date visited: 5/11/2002.

Mahadevan, K. S. 2003. Who is Stalling Judicial Reform? Link:

http://www.chennaionline.com/columns/life/life63.asp, Date visited: 5/11/2002.

Meenakshisundaram. 2003. Public Services Reform. Link: http://www.india-

seminar.com/2002/514/514%20s.s.%20meenakshisundaram.htm, Date visited: 26/11/2002.

Mehaffy, J. W. 2003. Electronic Filing – Its Development and its Future. Link:
www.misko.com/library/electronicfiling.pdf, Date visited: 5/1/2003.

Ravish, K. 2003. Significance of Lok Adalat. Link:

http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/article+1e.htm, Date visited: 18/1/2003.

Supreme Court of India. 1985. Karampal vs. Union of India, AIR, SC 774, pp 779.

Supreme Court of India. 1997. L Chandra Kumar vs. Government of India, 1997(2) SLRI
SC.

UNDP. 2002. “UNDP Priorities in Support of Good Governance.” Governance for

Sustainable Human Development: A UNDP Policy Document. Link:
http://magnet.undp.org/policy/chapter2.htm, Date visited: 5/11/2002.

World Bank. 2002. “The Judicial System.” World Development Report 2002, pp 188, Link:
http://www.worldbank.org/wdr/2001/fulltext/fulltext2002, Date visited: 5/1/2003.

World Bank. 2002. “Good Governance: The Business of Government.” pp 42, Link:
http://in.geocities.com/kstability/projects/integrity2/anticor1.html, Date visited: 26/11/2002.

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 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT 
 
—D.V.L.N. Murthy and A. Vijay Krishna 

Introduction
The cornerstone of Good Governance is that state institutions should become more
efficient, transparent, and accountable. Good governance can prevent systems and
institutions that protect the vulnerable from getting destroyed during a crisis.
According to UNDP, judicial and legal reforms are crucial for good governance1.
Courts offer a means for resolving disputes in a just manner. Justice forms the basis
of a lasting social order. Since every citizen looks to the judiciary as a last resort for
justice and if the judiciary does not live up to this expectation, then people will take to
the streets and there will be chaos in the country. Keeping in view the power and the
trust vested in the judiciary, every effort must be made to bring about reforms in the
judicial process so that it can meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The World Development Report—2002 states that the efficiency of a court can be
defined in terms of the speed, cost and fairness with which judicial decisions are made
and the access that aggrieved citizens have to the court2. The report identifies
procedural complexity and complex regulations as one of the main reasons for
inefficiency. It also states that these factors are likely to lead to more delays in
developing countries than in developed countries. Developed countries have
complementary institutions and capacity to increase efficiency, which the developing
countries seem to lack. The graphs below illustrate this scenario.

It has been found in several studies that introducing computer systems or other kinds
of mechanisation in the judiciary helps reduce delays. Mechanised systems provide
increased accountability. “Computerised case inventories are more accurate and
1
UNDP (2002). “UNDP Priorities in Support of Good Governance,” in Governance for Sustainable
Human Development, A UNDP policy document.
2
World Bank (2002). “The Judicial System,” in World Development Report—2002, pp 118.

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easier to handle than the paper-based procedures they replace, and more than one
person can have access to them, which makes them harder to manipulate.”3 The
answer to make the judicial process system more efficient and responsive might lie in
introducing better technology. There is great scope for reducing arrears, lightening
judicial loads and eliminating litigants’ problems through application of technology.
Judiciary should take the initiative to use modern technologies in the day-to-day
affairs of the court. This working paper will look at the possibility of introducing ‘e-
tools’ at the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal.

Article 323-A of the Constitution created Administrative Tribunals for adjudication of

disputes relating to service matters of employees in public service for the centre and
other states. The outcome of this exercise is the Administrative Tribunal Act 1985.

An Act to provide for the adjudication or trial by Administrative

Tribunals of disputes and complaints with respect to recruitment and
conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts
in connection with the affairs of the Union or of any State or of any
local or other authority within the territory of India or under the
control of the Government of India or of 1[any corporation or society
owned or controlled by the Government in pursuance of Article 323-A
of the Constitution] and for the matters connected therewith or
incidental thereto.

Current Reality
At present there is no online monitoring tool to keep track of the number of writ
petitions (OAs) being filed and the status of replies by respondents in Andhra Pradesh
Administrative Tribunal (APAT). List of new cases for admission are placed before
the Chairman of the APAT at the end of the day (by 6:00 pm) for generating cause
lists, which forms the backbone of the court. Another crucial problem is the lack of
any file tracking mechanism to know the actual status of a case. Lot of routine work
is being carried out manually every day.

The purpose of this study is to focus on areas where the court procedure can be used
more efficiently with the aid of modern ‘e-tools.’ The intention is to identify the main
areas contributing to litigation by carrying out an in-depth analysis and to suggest
remedial measures to deal with this problem.

Number of OAs filed every year: An analysis of the category-wise contribution

The analysis is split into two levels. The first level shows individual contributions of
each category every year. For each year, the category contributing to 5% or more of
the inflow is taken into account. The table below shows the categories contributing to
5 % or more of the OAs filed in the APAT.

Category 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Appointment 20 22 22 20 20 22 23 27
Promotion 26 23 20 16 15 19 16 16
Seniority 19 19 15 12 8 8 5 4
Absorption & 5 5 5 8 5 7 8 6

3
World Bank (2002). “The Judicial System”, in World Development Report 2002., pp 129.

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Regularisation
Major 6 6 8 9 11 6 6 7
punishment
Suspension 6 5 5 7 4
Pay Fixation 5 5
& Recovery
Pensionary 5 5
benefits
Transfers 8 10
Total 76 75 70 71 69 80 70 79
Note: All figures given in percentage terms

During the period 1995 to 1997, the five categories of appointment, promotion,
seniority, absorption and regularisation, and major punishment contributed to the
majority of OAs being filed at the APAT. From the year 1998 onwards, suspensions
also contributed to more than 5% of the OAs being filed. In the period covering 1999
and 2002, another new category, ‘pay fixation and recovery’ contributed to more than
5% of the cases. However, this category is not significant throughout the sample
period. Pensionary benefits are high in 2000 and 2001 and transfers are high in 2000
and 2002. Most of the pension cases are likely to be related to administrative issues
and are likely to be cleared quickly. Similarly, in the case of transfers, most of the
cases are related to general transfers and are likely to be disposed off quickly by the
tribunal. Interestingly, transfers contribute to nearly 10% of litigations in 2002,
resulting in the distortion of more important areas like seniority and suspension which
drop down to 4%. However, most of these transfer cases falling under the general
transfer category, which are likely to be disposed off in the first quarter of 2003,
making the other two areas namely, seniority and suspensions, more significant. In
general, the first five categories contribute to more than 60% of the litigations.

The second level of analysis deals with entire sample period from 1995 to 2002.
Those categories contributing to more than 5% of the cases filed are taken into
account.

Category 1995-2002
Appointment 23
Promotion 18
Seniority 9
Absorption & Regularisation 7
Major Punishment 7
Transfers 6
Total 70%

Over the entire sample period from 1995 to 2002, the six categories of appointment,
promotion, seniority, major punishment, absorption and regularisation and transfers
contribute to more than 70% of the total number of OAs filed in the APAT. Out of
these six areas, one can discount transfers to a great extent as they are mostly cases
relating to general transfers which are likely to be disposed off quickly. The other
five areas have been identified as the areas which deserve special attention. This can
be done by improving the existing judicial process (e.g., through introduction of
technology) and also by looking into the alternatives (e.g., alternative dispute
resolution mechanisms) which can be put into place to reduce the flow of OAs to the

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court area. Another aspect which needs to be studied is whether the current
government policy regarding the above five categories is contributing to more
litigations. If this is the case, then one needs to take corrective steps to rectify the
current government policy and introduce more dynamic policies which are more
foolproof and litigation free.

For a graphical representation of the above analysis refer to the diagrams below:

CATEGORY WISE OA CASES

1995 1996

A
Other Other A
20%
24% 22%
25%

MajP
6% MajP
P 6%
A/R
26% P
5% A/R
23%
S 5%
19% S
19%

1997 1998

A
A
20%
22% Other
Other 29%
30%

P
16%
Sus
P
6%
MajP 20%
8% MajP
S
A/R 9% A/R
12%
5% S 8%
15%

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 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

1999 2000

A Others A
20% 20% 22%
Other
31%

Sus
5%
P
MajP
15%
Sus 6% P
5% PB 19%
MajP S 5% T
11% PF/R A/R 8% 8% A/R S
5% 5% 8%
7%

2002
2001
Others
A 21% A
Others 23% 27%
30%
Sus
4%
MajP
7%
Sus P P
16% T 16%
7%
10% S
A/R
MajP S 4%
PB PF/R 6%
6% A/R 5%
5% 5%
8%

Category Wise OA Cases 1995-2002

A
Others 23%
30%

T P
6% 18%
MajP
7% A/R S
7% 9%

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The above diagrams clearly show that the five categories of appointments,
promotions, seniority, absorption and regularisation, and major punishments are
contributing to the maximum amount of litigations consistently. The data does not
reveal any inconsistency between the years, except that a new category of suspensions
becomes more significant since 1999. Intermittently, one also observes that pay
fixation and recovery and transfers are significant, albeit inconsistently. One must
exercise caution while considering major punishments as one of the significant
categories. The APAT (OA cases) files from 1995 to 1999 did not specify whether
the punishment was major or minor in a majority of cases. Hence, it was decided to
classify the punishment as major or minor on a purely arbitrary basis. Therefore, it is
quite possible that some of the cases classified as major punishments belong to the
minor punishment category or vice-versa. However, from 2000 onwards it was
specified whether the penalty was major or minor and the above problem ceased to
exist. Nonetheless, punishments as a whole are a significant contributing factor to
litigations in courts.

From the above analysis the following key areas were identified for an in-depth
analysis:

¾ Seniority
¾ Promotions
¾ Transfers
¾ Appointments
¾ Suspensions
¾ Penalties

The above analysis was possible due to the use of ‘e-tools’, which help not only in
simplifying a process but also in analysing a current situation. The entire database of
22,000 cases was analysed. This was made possible due to the use of modern
technology and statistical applications.

Use of ‘e-tools’ in admission, hearing and post admission stage

Admission Stage: Modernisation and Application of IT-an Endogenous Solution

Implementing a judicial database that makes it easy to track and difficult to
manipulate or misplace cases is paramount. It can enhance accountability and
consequently, the speed of adjudication.

The study revealed that by the end of December 2002, the number of cases pending in
the Administrative Tribunal, which is a special service matters court, stood at 22,723
cases. The statement discloses that cases relating to year 1990 are still pending. Even
contempt of court cases numbering 1,679 are also pending.

During the year 1993, the National Informatics Centre conducted a systems study of
computerisation of APAT. The NIC developed a software package containing a list
of business information systems which is about scheduling of cases to be heard by
court on the following day. Firstly, it enabled the generation of cause lists. Secondly,
Case Law information system was developed which contains a complete set of
reported judgements of the tribunal. Precedence of a case can be traced by the system
(however, the survey reveals that the system is not in operation). Thirdly, web

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hosting of the cause list was developed. The cause lists of the APAT on the internet
include daily cause list and a supplementary list. The website for accessing the cause
list is http://causelists.nic.in. The lawyers are able to receive the cause list by 6:00
pm. It also enables access by parties, court-wise and advocate- wise.

After studying the existing system in the administrative tribunal, we adopted a result
oriented managerial approach for finding solutions, the main emphasis being on
productivity. A litigant government servant comes into contact with the tribunal
when he/she files his original application explaining personal grievance/s and the
relief sought for. In the majority of the cases, they pray for an interim relief at the
hands of the judges. At present the Assistant Registrars of the tribunal receive the
original applications manually and scrutinise the applications with a check list
containing 28 items. After a detailed analysis, we found that the items could be
reduced to 21 and filing can also be made possible by electronic tools.

The electronic case filing (ECF) system allows registered participants with internet
access and necessary software to access the court’s webpage from where they can
have access to the ECF system. It permits filing of pleadings electronically with the
documents, subject to the permission of the judges. A system can be developed for
viewing official docket sheets and documents associated with the cases. Similarly,
subject to the acceptance of payment of fees by credit cards, a lawyer or law firm
filing a document requiring a fee can be permitted to pay by credit card. The lawyer
or law firm must first establish an account with the court office. If a lawyer or a law
firm files a document which requires a filing fee without first having established a
credit card account, such fee must be delivered to the registrar’s office before the
close of the next business day. The ECF system has a unique advantage of filing of
documents by a lawyer from his office. On scrutiny and acceptance by the assistant
registrars after due process of checking according to the check list, a database can be
developed simultaneously allotting an OA number in serial order on a first come first
served basis. Simultaneous development of database and registration of OAs with
numbers subject-wise enables the registry to place the whole list of OAs received in a
business day by the lunch time before the Chairman of the Tribunal for allotment of
business to various benches. The newly developed tool allows filing of OAs code-
wise (subject-wise). The Chairman of the Tribunal will be able to bunch the cases
together based on the indexing of cases developed by this method and allot work to
the benches by 2:00 pm, according to their specialisation. This means generation of a
cause list on the internet by 2:00 P.M. as against the present practice of 6:00 P.M.
This system enables both the applicants and the respondents to prepare for the next
day’s hearing well in advance.

After a detailed study of the 215 areas in which service litigation is taking place, i.e.,
from recruitment to retirement, we have grouped them into 30 areas. The cases were
bunched into these 30 categories by allotting a specific code to each category. Four
computer terminals with internet access at APAT will enable the system to function
smoothly. The model web pages for the above functions are shown below:

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APAT-CHECKLIST-PRE-ADMISSION STAGE

Applicant's Name

Name of the Advocate

Respondent's Name

Email-id(if any)
1.OA application in triplicate with 2 file pads
Yes No
2.Full Description of cause title
Yes No
3.Court Fee Rs 50 (each applicant paid)
Yes No

i) Draft

ii) Cheque

iii) Credit Card

4. Service on the other side
Yes No
5. Process Fee
Yes No
1
6. Subject Classification code
i) facts
Yes No

7.Limitations i) Rule 18 ii) Rule 19 iii) Rule 20 iv)

Sec 21
8 i) Remedies exhausted - sec 20
Yes No
ii) Matters already filled
Yes No
9.Relief

i)Main
Yes No
ii)Interim
Yes No

10.Mode of filling : Post Person ECF

11.Certificate

i) Verification
Yes No
ii) Declaration
Yes No
12. Vokalat
Yes No
13.MA-permission petition in OA filed
Yes No
14.Material papers with index annexures duly attested by council in three
sets Yes No
15.Rule NISI form
Yes No
16. Covers and acknowledgement slips filed
Yes No

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17. No. of copies for all the respondents filed

Yes No
18.Certificate of filling of all forms
Yes No
19.Brief facts leading to filing of MA
Yes No
20. i) Contempt cases under section 17 of Act 1985
Yes No
OR

ii) Section 10 & 12 of CC Act 1971

Yes No
21.Execution application under section 17 of Act 1985 in form 3
Yes No
22.LR petition
Yes No
23.If filed by an association:

i) By laws

ii) Authorisation letter

iii) Registration certificate

iv) List of members

v) MA

Submit Form Reset Form

Note the provision given for e-mail address, which enables any new developments on the
case to be transmitted directly to the concerned people.

Hearing Stage – Endogenous Solutions

The study revealed that rules permit preparation of ready lists every half year, in the
months of January and June. The registry has to prepare weekly lists and daily lists
out of the ready lists prepared by the court offices. A ready list is a list that is fit to be
presented before the bench for hearing. It pre-supposes a preparation of that list after
receiving the replies of respondents and documents from the respective departments
and is complete and fit in all respects for hearing by a bench. Our study revealed that
cause lists running into five or six pages with more than hundred cases are listed
before the benches. While the average disposal per judge per day is in the order of
four to five cases, in order to enable the judicial process system to function effectively
and efficiently, a systematic preparation of calendar of cases has to be prepared to
reduce congestion in court halls and save the time taken for call work. Courts function
only from 10:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. and from 2:30 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. An operative
list of calendar of cases reduces the off take of call work time and enables the bench
to dispose off more number of cases in the time saved.

The cause list is the backbone in the judicial process system. Listing of cases
classification-wise and bench-wise (considering the expertise of a bench in a specific
area) will improve the delivery system. Subject to the discretion and allotment of
work by the Chairman, each bench normally handles:

1. Mention matters
2. Contempt matters
3. Admissions
4. Miscellaneous matters

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5. Part heard matters

6. Final hearing

Cause List Details

2003-04-10
Select Date

Submit

The cause list is automatically generated by the system each day and a unique OA
number is allotted to each case filed.

Cause List For2003-07-10

Case No Applicant Name Advocate Name Respondent Name

72 ABC XYZ Revenue Department
73 ABC XYZ Revenue Department

The above frame shows the format in which a cause list will appear on a given day.

At the time of admission of new OAs, after hearing the applicant and the respondent,
the bench has many options. Taking these options into consideration, the following
web page was developed for communicating orders through the internet. The
following is the format.

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 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

APAT-ADMISSION STAGE-COURT HALL

OA NUMBER CODE
1. Admit(A)

2. Admit with interim order(IO)

3. Notice Before Admission(NBA)

4. Adjourned to date(ADJ) March 05 2003

5. Dismissed

6. Reserved

Submit Addmission

At present, computers are not provided in the court hall. Since the judgement of a
bench on admission matters revolves around the six areas listed above, using
computers in the court hall with internet access will expedite the process of dispatch
of orders and also help update the database simultaneously. Such an arrangement of
the database has an added advantage as it permits retrieval and preparation of updated
cause lists. The registry will be in a position to create an updated weekly list and
monthly list for operation. It also meets the purpose of serving notices on both sides.

The ECF system also enables monitoring of the number of adjournments granted.
Administrative Tribunal rules permit the recovery of costs occasioned by
adjournments by both parties and if the rule is enforced, it will have a salutary effect
on preventing the adoption of delay tactics by the litigant government servants,
besides ensuring effective and expeditious disposal of cases and meeting the costs of
modernisation.

Post Admission Stage-Endogenous Solutions

At present, judgements are dictated in the open court in a large number of cases and
reserved in a few cases. In both these methods, judgements are dictated, typed,
corrected and fair copied on typewriters and kept in sealed covers for pronouncement
in the open court. A copy of the judgement is given free of cost to the applicant. The
introduction of ECF makes the job of the court masters easy by allowing use of the
latest word processing techniques to type judgements. ECF enables the dispatch of
judgement copies to the parties a lot faster than is currently being done.

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File Transaction details

ENTER FILE TRANSACTION DETAILS

CATEGORY C.A

CASE NO. 1001

SEND TO

comments

Public Interface with the Tribunal

Computerisation is proposed for court orders, documents, proceedings, copies of
petitions, counters, rejoinders, etc., as and when required by the litigants. At present
it takes more than fifteen days for the supply of certified copies. Using ECF process
will reduce the requirement of manpower in the copying section and will also
eliminate the manual handling of case files by the court officers as the required
material can be retrieved from the system to generate a hard copy.

File monitoring system

In the APAT, file movement is an important event. After a case is registered, the case
file is sent to the judicial section for placing before the appropriate bench. After
hearing the arguments, the bench clerk hands over the case file along with the
documents to the court master for taking dictation of judgements. After the
pronouncement of the judgement in open court, the files are transmitted to the bench
clerk and through him to the records section. As is well known, records and
documents play an important part in the judicial process. Any misplacement of
important documents at any stage hampers the judicial process. The ECF system
developed by us, thus, enables the tracking of a file.

File tracking details

ENTER FILE DATA

CATEGORY C.A

CASE NO.

DATE(YYYY-MM-DD) July 10 2003

SUBJECT

CURRENT INCHARGE COURTMASTER

SENT TO

Submit File Info

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 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

About file data

QUERY FILE DATA

CATEGORY C.A

CASE NO.

Submit Fie Info

File data will appear in the format shown below:

Category Case No. Date Subject Status Send To
OA 74 2003-07-11 Appointment COURTMASTER/admit Benchmaster

Apart from the details of the individual files, a complete list of cases filed and their
movement within the Tribunal can be monitored through the record room which will
contain a comprehensive database of all the cases.

Record Room Details

Report of Record room

Category Case no Date Subject Status Current In-charge

OA 48 2003-03-05 appointment COURTMASTER record room
OA 49 2003-03-06 appointment COURTMASTER record room
OA 50 2003-03-07 appointment COURTMASTER record room

Monitoring cell for Government Pleader’s Office and Departments

Currently there is no monitoring mechanism in place to study the number of cases and
to ascertain whether counters have been filed or not. Certain changes, as mentioned
below, need to be made to the system in employing government pleaders, which
should be able to tackle the problems effectively.

1. The procedure for appointment of government pleaders should envisage

entering into a contract by the ministry of law with an individual counsel. The
terms and conditions of contract should bind the Government pleaders about
the maximum time to be taken for filling a reply after getting relevant material

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from the concerned department. He/she should also be required to inform the
department of the outcome of a case on the same day in writing through fax;
2. The availability of facilities like telephone and fax should be considered a pre-
requisite for empanelment as Government pleader. Internet facility should be
considered an additional advantage for awarding the contract;
3. There should be a panel of pleaders who can be engaged by a department and
the departments should be free to engage any of the counsels in the panel.
This would help in generating competitiveness among different pleaders with
consequent qualitative improvement in the defence of Government cases;
4. A list of such pleaders indicating their office and residential address/telephone
numbers, Fax number and internet address should be circulated by the
Ministry of Law on January 1st each year and the ministries/departments
should be informed of the changes as and when
replacements/additions/subtractions are made in the list.

Apart from the above mentioned changes, the use of ‘e-tools’ will enable the
departments to monitor the cases being instituted in the tribunal and enable them to
file counters in time. The ‘e-tool’ will help both the judiciary and as well as the
departments in monitoring cases. Certain frames are shown below which can be of
value to the departments in monitoring service matter cases.

Select Year

1995
Select Year From the List

SUBMIT

From the above frame the department can choose all the cases pending in a particular
year.

Subject wise Report for 1999

Total No of Cases 2345

Counter Filed 1324
Non Counter Filed 1018
CF/CNF Not Known 3

1
Select a subject from the List

SUBMIT

Year wise Graph

Analysis Graph

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 eTools for Expediting Justice: A Case Study of APAT

Taking 1999 as a sample year, the above frame shows an overview of the total
number of cases pending in the year 1999 along with the information on the number
of cases where counter has been filed/not filed.

Counter/Non-Counter Graph for the year 1999

The above frame shows a graphical representation of the number of cases where
counters have been filed/not filed. In spite of four years passing by, counters have not
been filed in 44% of the cases.

Subject-wise Report - for Subject 2

Total No of Case = 353

Counter Filed = 202

Non Counter Filed = 151

View Graph

OA.N0 SUBJECT DEPARTMENT CF/CNF

2359 Not permitting the applicant Education CF
2404 Promotion Education CF
2405 Promotion Education CF
2417 Cancellation of promotion Education ZPP CF
2446 Qng Promotion of R4 SW CF
2756 Promotion MPLTY CNF
2774 Promotion Education CNF
2781 Promotion Excise CNF
2788 Promotion Education CNF
2829 Promotion Cooperation CNF

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Along with a general overview on the number of pending case, counters filed/not
filed, etc., one can view subject specific information regarding the counters filed or
not filed. The above frame shows a sample from the year 1999 relating to the subject
of promotion.

Apart from providing information on pending cases, the ‘e-tool’ is also capable of
analysing the areas where the litigation is ≥ 5%. This enables both the judiciary and
government to focus on main litigation areas and take necessary remedial measures.

Stringent application of rules reduces delay and costs

Rule 11 of the AT procedure rules deals with the various methods of service of
notices and processes issued by the tribunal. If this rule is meticulously followed, no
case needs to be adjourned for want of service of notice.

Rule 12 deals with filing of reply and other documents by respondents. Under this
rule, respondents shall file the reply within one month of the service of the notice.
Unfortunately, this mandatory rule is never fulfilled in the majority of the cases as
seen from the case study. The same rule also prescribes a method of service of reply
and documents on the applicant.

Rule 17 deals with the disposal of an OA for the applicants default. The rule states:

Where on the date fixed for hearing of the application or on any other
day to which such hearing may be adjourned, the applicant does not
appear when the application is called for hearing, the tribunal may, in
its discretion, either dismiss the application for default or hear and
decide it on merit.

Likewise, Rule 18 deals with ex-parte hearing and disposal of applications (OA):

Where on the date fixed for hearing the application or on any other
date to which such a hearing may be adjourned, the applicant appears
and the respondent does not appear then the application is called for
hearing, the tribunal, may in its discretion adjourn the hearing or hear
and decide the application ex-parte.

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This rule gives a right to the affected party to move the court for a review of its order
on production of a sufficient cause for not appearing in the court. However, Rule 9
prescribes an outer limit of 30 days from the date of the order for filing such review
petitions.

Rule 21 empowers the tribunal to grant adjournment and also order recovery of costs.
Although the framework of rules permits to tackle such problems, unfortunately these
rules are not being put to effective and proper use. By sticking to these rules, a case
can be disposed off within six months as prescribed.

Conclusion
The ‘e-tool’ discussed above strengthens the hands of the judiciary by enabling more
effective implementation of the above mentioned rules. The software enables easy
service of notice, along with filing of counters and it can also monitor the number of
adjournments granted per case. It also strengthens the hand of the concerned
departments by enabling them to monitor cases where counters are pending, etc. By
allowing a case to be filed online it also makes the job of an applicant easier as he/she
will be in a position to file a case from anywhere in the world.

Developing and implementing a judicial software package such as the one described
above increases efficiency in terms of the speed, cost and fairness with which judicial
decisions are made and the access that aggrieved citizens have to the court. The ‘e-
tool’ reduces procedural complexity and enables greater use friendliness. It has been
found in several studies that introducing computer systems or other kinds of
mechanisation in the judiciary helps reduce delays. Mechanised systems provide
increased accountability. Computerised case inventories are more accurate and easier
to handle than the paper-based procedures they replace, and more than one person can
have access to them, which makes them harder to manipulate. The answer to make
the judicial process system more efficient and responsive might lie in introducing
better technology. There is great scope for reducing arrears, lightening judicial loads
and eliminating litigants’ problems through application of technology. Implementing
a judicial database that makes it easy to track and difficult to manipulate or misplace
cases is paramount. It can enhance accountability and consequently, the speed of
adjudication.

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References

Government of Andhra Pradesh. AP Civil Service Rules 1962.

Government of India. Constitution of India.

Government of India. Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.

Government of India. December, 1999. Constitution of Permanent and Continuous Lok

Adalat in Ministeries and Departments of Government of India, Circular – 12/22/99-CL.IV,
Ministry of Law, Justice & Company Affairs. Link: http://www.dca.nic.in/cir/gcir1099.html,
Date visited: 18/1/2003.

Indiainfo.com Law. 2003. Beyond Two is Too Many. Link: http://law.indiainfo.com/tax-

fin/beyondtwo.html, Date visited: 21/12/2002.

Krishna Iyer, V. R. 2003. Judicial Odyssey: Calls for a Just Critique. Link:
http://lawindiainfo.com/constitution/odyssey.html, Date visited: 5/11/2002.

Mahadevan, K. S. 2003. Who is Stalling Judicial Reform? Link:

http://www.chennaionline.com/columns/life/life63.asp, Date visited: 5/11/2002.

Meenakshisundaram. 2003. Public Services Reform. Link: http://www.india-

seminar.com/2002/514/514%20s.s.%20meenakshisundaram.htm, Date visited: 26/11/2002.

Mehaffy, J. W. 2003. Electronic Filing – Its Development and its Future. Link:
www.misko.com/library/electronicfiling.pdf, Date visited: 5/1/2003.

Ravish, K. 2003. Significance of Lok Adalat. Link:

http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/article+1e.htm, Date visited: 18/1/2003.

Supreme Court of India. 1985. Karampal vs. Union of India, AIR, SC 774, pp 779.

Supreme Court of India. 1997. L Chandra Kumar vs. Government of India, 1997(2) SLRI
SC.

UNDP. 2002. “UNDP Priorities in Support of Good Governance.” Governance for

Sustainable Human Development: A UNDP Policy Document. Link:
http://magnet.undp.org/policy/chapter2.htm, Date visited: 5/11/2002.

World Bank. 2002. “The Judicial System.” World Development Report 2002, pp 188, Link:
http://www.worldbank.org/wdr/2001/fulltext/fulltext2002, Date visited: 5/1/2003.

World Bank. 2002. “Good Governance: The Business of Government.” pp 42, Link:
http://in.geocities.com/kstability/projects/integrity2/anticor1.html, Date visited: 26/11/2002.

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Citizen Governance: Concept and Practice 
—V. K. Parigi 

Background
Over the years democracy has become “delegative”. People have left it for the
elected representatives and officials to govern. Citizen is missing from governance.
Democracy has become more representative than participatory. Citizen participation
in governance becomes most apparent during elections. Between elections, there are
a few institutional channels of citizen participation in issues of governance. The role
of other institutions such as media and others becomes important.

As we look at issues relating to governance in the 21st century, the roles of both
citizen and governance are undergoing important revolution. Government is seen
more as one of the stakeholders than a regulator, funder and service provider. Citizen
governance is to be seen beyond new public management. It brings a fundamental
change in the reform process in that the importance of state apparatuses for the
development and sustainability of viable societies is being de-emphasised and special
attention to “governance” is now taking over the central place that has been hitherto
given to “government”. The new vision is to evolve public policy through the joint
effort of the public authorities and the citizens working in harmony. Today the
reinvention of the citizen is of crucial importance to public administrative
practice.

Indian Constitution and Citizen Governance

When India achieved independence from foreign rule, the people became the
sovereign masters of the country. It was “we, the people of India” who gave unto
themselves a constitution and provided in it space for the legislative, executive and
judicial systems to function. As much as the Constitution is the creation of the people
the basic constitutional values embodied in the Preamble, the fundamental rights and
The Directive Principles of State Policy represent citizenship values. The role of the
citizens is not to be seen as mere tax payers but as active participants evolving
policies and plans and in monitoring performance of the government. Citizen
governance is meant to translate the concept of sovereignty of the people into a
reality. The government is seen as an equal partner with the citizens.

The 73rd and the 74th amendments to the Constitution of India are meant to bring in
place citizen governance in the rural and urban areas through the involvement of the
citizens in the vital areas of governance, economic development and welfare. The
purpose of these amendments is to ensure civic engagement towards effective,
efficient, transparent and accountable government.

The Concept of Citizen Governance

Democracies are weak without citizen governance. Citizen governance is value based
and thus must be construed within civil society organisations and leaders should
examine their own political context and vision for change. The concept of citizen
governance is young and to sustain it government at all levels needs to learn to work
in different ways within a new culture. This will require the removal of walls that
have divided the bureaucracies of the government and the citizens.

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 Citizen Governance: Concept and Practice

Civic engagement is defined as active participation and collaboration among

individuals, government and the private sector to influence and determine decisions
that affect the citizens. The mere existence of civil society organisations or a formal
dialogue with them will not ensure citizen governance. Unless the government is
open to listen to the citizen groups and involve them in the governance process no
tangible benefits will flow to the society from citizen governance.

Elements of Effective Citizen Governance Model

Citizen governance increases the democratic content of government and provides
opportunities for citizens to take interest in public affairs. The three elements of the
governance model are citizen engagement, performance measurement and
government policy and implementation.

Citizen engagement refers to the involvements of citizens, using the term “citizens”
in the broadest sense to include individuals, groups, non-profit organisations and
even business corporate citizens. Private organisations are included primarily in the
sense of their participation for public purposes rather than only to protect narrow
private interests. In this view, citizen engagement in a community is best when it is
broad, inclusive and representative of citizens.

Performance measurement refers to the development of indicators and collection of

data to describe, report on, and analyse performance. Measurement can be applied to
the government services or community conditions. Social audit is an effective
method to ensure some of these objectives.

Government policy and implementation refers to the developments of public policy

decisions about issues government chooses to address, the strategies it employs, the
resources it commits and the actions it takes to carry out these decisions. This
element covers the full cycle of planning, budgeting, implementing and evaluating
government operations.

In this governance model the citizen’s role is seen as:

1. Customer;
2. Owner or Shareholder;
3. Issue framer;
4. Co-producer;
5. Service quality evaluator and independent outcome tracker.

The first two of these roles - Customer and Owner or Stakeholder – are relatively
passive roles. The other roles are roles of active engagement that usually require
citizens to make a choice to become active in a sustainable way.

Citizens as Customers
Over the recent years, the application of customer service techniques to government
services has been gaining ground. The core idea is that a citizen should be treated as
a valued customer by the providers of public services. Citizen’s charters are an effort
in this direction.

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Citizens as Stakeholders or Owners

In a democracy, citizens, in addition to being customers, really are the “owners” of
public services. Through tax payments, citizens are investors in public services and
publicly owned assets. A key question from the owner’s perspective with respect to
government performance is whether government is getting job done. Citizen
shareholders may think about the question in various ways. For example, are
citizen’s concerns being met by public services? Is the job being done fairly and
ethically? Does the result provide value for the public money spent? In response to
these concerns, citizens deserve good information offered in a format and manner
that is readily understood.

Being sensitive to citizens as shareholders or owners requires that public agencies

use citizen concerns and interests as one of the shaping factors to develop “owners’
reports” on public service performance. To be effective, such reports also must
provide citizens comparative contexts for the performance information provided. For
example, graphically summarised performance information can show comparisons
with other jurisdictions, historical trends, or publicly set goals. Such comparisons
can help set reasonable expectations for services as well as indicate where change is
needed to improve services and conditions in the community.

Citizens as Issue Framers

There has been a major upswing at the local and state level in engaging citizens in
identifying and framing issues of concern for communities to guide planning and
action. Citizens can act as “issue framers” in a number of ways. Some of these are:

• Vision builders. Citizens may be called on to help be “ visionaries” for their

communities - to articulate a desirable future and broad strategies to get there –
as part of community visioning and strategic planning.
• Advisers. Citizens may be called on to provide advice for such things as land
use, budgeting, or specific services or issues. The “adviser” roles include:

o Community-wide Advisers. Citizens may be called to serve on short or

longer-term community-wide advisory committees.
o Level Advisers. Citizens serve on ward clubs, neighborhood associations,
or other groups that identify needs, recommend priorities, and attempt to
obtain service adjustments and improvements within specific
neighborhoods or districts.

Citizens in issue framer roles are often involved in the complex process of public
deliberation to help reach public judgments big and small, often involving different
stakeholders with divergent interests in the outcome of public decisions. Building a
useful community vision especially requires a well-structured process of public
deliberation, as community members must arrive at important public judgments
about what they value, and what long-term changes they most want to see in their
community.

A community’s leaders hear citizens articulate what is important and how a desirable
future for their community should look. This can be a complex process involving
many stakeholders, and many issues in relation to the expectations for public
services, as part of the strategy to achieve a community vision.

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 Citizen Governance: Concept and Practice

Citizens as Co-producers of Services

Beyond being customers, owners, and issue framers, citizens and citizen groups are
often asked to play an active role in actually providing or helping to provide
important services, or in solving specific problems to contribute to achieving a
“community vision”. Many communities now recognise that when it comes to
resolving many important issues, government cannot or will not do it alone.

Productively engaging volunteers and citizen groups as partners with government can
leverage public resources with citizen effort to multiply the improvement of results
for communities. An example is the “Clean and Green” movement in Andhra
Pradesh.

In the role of co-producer of services, with respect to government performance

management, citizens and citizen groups may become partners in the enterprise of
improving both the public and nonpublic parts of service delivery to address
community concerns. They may develop greater awareness of what constitutes
quality in a public service and quality of life in the community, of how complex or
simple it is to produce the desired service outcome, and of barriers and opportunities
on the path to achieving desirable community outcomes.

Citizens as Service Quality Evaluators

Citizens can also act as partners in efforts to improve public services by assessing the
performance of public services. Acting as “customers”, citizens sometimes evaluate
services simply by filling in a reply after receiving a public service. As more deeply
involved customers, citizens may become engaged in survey research or focus
groups. At a still more involved level, citizens may become “evaluators” if they are
trained as service quality raters to directly assess the performance of public services-
such as PHCs, transport, electricity, water and so on.

Having citizens rate services can also build trust among residents about government’s
effort to measure its performance and satisfy the citizenry it serves. Engaging citizens
in this way can lead to a more interested and informed community. The use of
volunteer or citizen group assessment of the performance of public services can also
stretch limited resources for measuring performance.

The role of citizen as evaluator may be distinguished from that of citizen as customer
in several ways. In the role of evaluator, the citizen is much more engaged in
gathering data or in analysing and interpreting reports of public service performance.
For example, these evaluations can involve being active data collectors, as in doing
“trained observer” ratings of a neighborhood or facility, “knocking on doors” to
gather data from organisations, or surveying one’s neighbors about needs or issues.
This role can also include citizens interpreting performance data they collect. They
might also interpret and evaluate data collected by others in the performance reports
provided to citizens. In sum, the role of evaluator is much more active and result
oriented than that of customer.

Citizens as Independent Outcome Trackers

In a number of communities, citizens have been involved in community and regional
improvement independently of government. Citizen groups have established sets of
desired outcomes for their community and established systems to track and publicise

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the results of these outcomes. These groups follow various themes, such as “healthy
communities”, “quality of life”, and “sustainable communities”.

What is different about the private, citizen-based groups we refer to as “independent

outcome trackers” is that they tend to track a broad range of issues with a community
or regional outcomes focus. They are not narrowly focused on a particular interest or
viewpoint as are most traditional interest and advocacy groups. While certain values
may be implied by an interest in community sustainability, for example, such as
environmental conservation, sustainability groups tend to look beyond
environmentalism to consider economic and social conditions, as well.

Building Knowledge and Capacity of Citizens

If citizens are asked to participate in public decision processes, and if they are to be
provided with performance information and expected to make intelligent use of it, it
helps if they are provided with contextual knowledge and some level of training or
technical assistance to help them participate wisely and effectively. The experience
of the communities that have involved citizens in identifying priority issues and
developing goals and performance indicators confirms that citizens can participate
intelligently in these processes without having the years of technical knowledge and
expertise that can be expected of service managers. However, the more deeply
citizens are involved in these processes, the more important it is to help them develop
their capacity to understand issues, work with performance data, and make good
choices.

Six Ways to Initiate and Sustain Effective Citizen Governance

Local Government and Community Action Citizen Governance

Citizen governance must begin at the Panchayats and avenues must be created for
their participation and community action delinked from politics. The 73rd
amendment to the constitution of India has laid out a road map in this direction for
the local government bodies.

Build momentum in the community

We need to stimulate involvement of citizens to the point where it builds upon itself:
Once a broad base of citizens is involved in a process, and they see that the process is
useful and it is in their interest to maintain, the process can take on a life of its own.

Partner
Involve community-based organisations, and, where applicable, multiple government
entities to help build a collaborative community culture—participation by private,
usually community-based organisations, is helpful to build a collaborative
community culture, and can help sustain measurement and involvement practices
when government interest might otherwise lag.

Fund and sustain

Develop resource streams to initiate and then to maintain efforts over time.
Depending upon the local setting, support can come from government, business, non-
profit organisations, local foundations, universities, or from a combination of
sources.

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 Citizen Governance: Concept and Practice

Leverage learning opportunities

Use peer and professional influence and frameworks of “good” and “promising”
practices to advance widespread implementation.

Maintain citizen pressure and support

Citizens play an important role in demanding and achieving good performance.
Finally, citizens are a vital force to shape the responsiveness and quality of
government in their community. Apathy and indifference in the community can
breed apathy and unresponsiveness in the government and vice versa. Active,
concerned, and involved citizens can do much to prevent and dispel this negative
cycle.

Why Strive for Citizen’s Participation?

Citizen’s participation is both an end in itself, and a means to an end. Citizen
participation is a long promised but elusive goal, limited by access to information
and by an incomplete understanding of as to how government works.

Men and women have a right to take part in making decisions that affect their
community. This is because it affects their own development and future. In
mainstream models of local government, citizens delegate community management
and development to politicians and specialists. Direct participation can be seen as an
aspect of citizenship, a matter of people having access to information and policy-
making processes, as well as to the full range of their society’s decision-making
processes.
The purpose of citizen participation is to:

1. To be heard in a meaningful way, to be treated as if their opinions and

information mattered;
2. To influence problem definition as well as proposed policies;
3. To work with administrators and policy makers to find solutions to public
problems;
4. To have an equal force in the policy process.

A means to an end

People’s participation can improve governance by making it more:

o Transparent
o Coherent , accountable
o Effective
o Efficient

Citizen Governance is about responding to people’s needs and demands. Involving

the people themselves in identifying these needs and demands, and in designing
policies and programmes to meet them, is an excellent way of doing this. Citizens’
participation can be considered as a means of achieving better governance.

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Stages and Levels of Participation

Stages
One way to characterise participation is to identify the stage or phase of the process
in which citizen participation is sought. The following stages have been identified:

1. Problem identification: investigation and discussion aimed at identifying the

root cause or the most important aspect of a problem or issue.
2. Problem analysis: analysis of the context and factors influencing the issue or
problem, followed by the development of possible interventions and/or
policies.
3. Policy preparation: examining the feasibility of various policy options and
identifying potential.
4. Policy design: choosing the optimal policy option, followed by refining and
concretisation, so that it can be put into practice.
5. Policy implementation: putting the chosen policy into practice.
6. Monitoring, evaluation and follow-up: supervising implementation, gathering
feedback on the effectiveness and efficiency of the chosen measures, and
adjusting policies, plans and implementation in accordance with the feedback,
in order to ensure sustainability.

Levels
During any of the above stages, different levels of citizens’ participation are possible.
The lowest level is that of merely being informed. At the other end of the scale, the
highest level is being fully responsible for managing a process. These are the levels
that have been identified:

1. Resistance: active opposition from the people concerned.

2. Opposition: this can mean several things. First, the formal role played by
political parties that are not in government in controlling and influencing the
parties and policies of these governments. Second, the actions that citizens
and/or civil organisations take to protest against and change policy decisions
and other governmental measures. Lastly and more generally, the term can
also refer to all processes and mobilisations of people / factions / parties to
protest, question and try to change decisions or measures inside or outside
organisations.
3. Information: understood here as a one-way communication to stakeholders.
4. Consultation: This is a two-way communication. Stakeholders have the
opportunity to express suggestions and concerns, but without any assurance
that their input will be used, or used in the way they intended.
a) Consensus-building: stakeholders interact with one another and discuss
various options, with the objective of agreeing negotiated positions that
are acceptable to all.
b) Decision-making: citizens are directly involved in making decisions and
share responsibility for the resulting outcomes.
c) Risk-sharing: participating citizens are personally implicated in the
outcomes, and share the risk that the outcomes might be different from
what was intended. In this way, they share accountability.
d) Partnership: this level builds on the two preceding ones. Here, citizens do
not only take part in decision-making and accountability, but also

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participate in implementing decisions on a basis of equality with other

stakeholders.
e) Self-management: citizens autonomously manage the matter at hand, thus
carrying full responsibility and accountability. This is the highest level of
participation.

Tools for Participation

1. Standing Citizens’ Panels: The Panel will consist of 10 to 25 members.
Members of the Panel drawn from related fields of expertise or Public
concern will advise government on policy issues or male recommendations
on improving the services rendered by the department, review the annual
performance of the departments concerned.
2. Round–Tables: This concept was developed in Canada. The purpose is to
bring together groups of interested parties and stakeholders to deliberate on
various issues periodically.
3. Participatory Planning Communities: This tool can be used successfully
for citizen participators right from problems identification and analysis to
planning and implementation.
4. Forums: These are similar to round tables, but are less formal and less
engaging than round–tables.
5. Public Hearings: Public hearings enhance citizen participation. Hearings
have the explicit aim of soliciting people’s opinions and reactions to
proposals, with the intention of taking this feedback into account.
6. Citizen/Community Outreach: This is a popular way of motivating citizens
to participate by arranging lunch, parties or events where citizens want to give
suggestions, ideas or express support to the initiatives of the government.
7. Citizen Committees: A committee with 8 to 10 concerned citizens may be
formed for each department, which helps the government in policy making,
implementation etc.
8. Joint Project Teams: Project teams represent infusive interaction. They
enhance citizen participation. Administrators should delegate powers to
project teams to allocate funds and manage complementation.

Barriers to Participation
We must move from public administration to public service. We need to create
settings for participation that are open and welcoming rather than intimidating. The
following are viewed as barriers to participation:
1. A disconnected administration which prevents or restricts dialogue ;
2. Politics of power.
3. Centralisation as compared to decentralisation;
4. Endless stream of regulations;
5. Ineffective or insufficient policies and services;
6. Citizens viewed as passive recipients of governmental services rather than
active agents who could work with administrators to deal meaningfully with
their problems.
Administrators must balance governance needs and citizen involvement. The key is
to distinguish between administrative routine where expertise counts and public
policy decisions that affect life. The role of the administrator must change from that
of an expert to facilitator.

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Qualities required to be imbibed by Administrators

1. Humanise: frame issues in human terms.
2. Collaborate: encourage citizen participation.
3. Strategise: use citizen governance and perspectives to evaluate the delivery of
public services, encourage citizen feedback.
4. Organise: make space for citizens’ groups, welcome results of collective
efforts by citizen groups.

Developing a Culture of Public Participation

Our responsibility is to engage citizens. However, we tend to hear things we want
hear and we have to be willing to hear what we do not want to hear. We have to do
this quickly if citizen governance is to be effective. A large population is disengaged
merely because they have the perception that the government does not listen.
Therefore administrators need to develop skills critical to citizen participation.

10 Skills Critical to Citizen Participation

1. Active listening
2. Creative conflict
3. Mediation
4. Negotiation
5. Political imagination
6. Public dialogue
7. Public judgment
8. Appreciation of citizen’s view point
9. Evaluation of reflection
10. Mentoring.

It is important to create spaces for dialogue and to ensure that administrators listen to
the citizens and respect their views. Active administrators were found to have the
following behavioural attitudes when dealing with citizens.

1. See citizens as citizens;

2. Share authority;
3. Reduce personnel and organisational control ;
4. Trust in efficacy of collaboration;
5. Balance experimental with scientific and professional knowledge.

Enabling Factors for Citizen Governance

Ensuring public access to government information, transparency, conducting public
hearing and referenda and involving civil society to monitor government’s
performance in areas such as accountability, cost effectiveness an information
sharing enable citizen governance.

Developing a culture of civic solidarity wherein all stakeholders treat each other on
the basis of respect and acceptance of diversity of opinion is important. There is a
need to establish the legal authority for civil society to participate effectively in
governance.

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Capacity Enhancement
There is a view that the average citizen lacks the understanding and capacity to
participate in policy review and micro decisions relating to administrative matters
and issues of governance. There is a need to build competency among the civil
society groups, individuals and organisations at the local, district and national level
in these areas.

Building Networks
Citizen participation means co-management, community management, self
governance and looking at citizens as owners. To achieve this goal, administrators
should build networks with citizen organisations, neighborhood groups, public
interest groups, voluntary organisations, professional groups and activist individuals.
All government departments should scout for locating these groups in the
geographical areas they function.

Citizen Governance Index

How to judge that governments are implementing / encouraging / supporting citizen
governance in their states? The citizen governance index calculated with weightages
given for the following indicators will help in arriving at the index. The indicators
are:

1. Information access to citizens that is easy to obtain, reliable, multi channel;

2. Level of participation of citizens;
3. Degree of participation;
4. Degree of participation of different sections of the society and gender
equality;
5. Partnership built by the government with the civic society;
6. Capacity building programmes conducted by the government for the
administrators and citizens for developing skills, tools and knowledge in
citizen governance;
7. Use of new and creative methods in citizen governance and participatory
processes;
8. Citizen out reach programmes to open up new and multi avenues for citizen
participation.

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A Citizen Governance Model

Characteristics of a Governance Model that is sensitive to a community’s

needs:

• Accessible
Citizens will have easy access to the elected and staff decision makers
who are responsible for services.

• Accountable
Elected and appointed officials will owe responsibility to the public.

• Inclusive
The community will be recognised as an important component of
decision making.

• Representative
Citizens will be fairly and democratically represented.

• Comprehensive
All government functions and services will be addressed; services
will be delivered at a level communities believe to be appropriate;
clear and logical responsibility for service-delivery will be identified;
voluntary citizen participation will be acknowledged.

• Comprehensible
It will be easy to understand who does what.

• Cost-effective
Appropriate quality service will be delivered efficiently and in a
manner that makes citizens feel they are receiving a reasonable return
on their tax money.

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Are We Ready for Citizen Governance?

There are certain pre requisites to be fulfilled by governments before they can initiate
programmes for citizen governance. Citizen governance needs basic edifice to build
on. Governments must ensure that the following are in place for citizen governance
to take off:

1. Citizen friendly ambience is government offices:

Citizens’ information desk, “May I Help You” counters, & Citizen
Reception Centers should be managed by staff who show physical
willingness to serve.

2. Courtesy and Helpfulness:

Citizens visiting government offices should be treated with courtesy and
offered helpful and timely service.

3. Availability and accessibility of public officials

Officers should be available during the working hours or during the
timings ear-marked for public interviews. Availability and accessibility
also means availability on telephone. Citizens should be able to get
routine information on phone without the need to visit government
offices.

4. Feedback: There is a need to put in place a feedback system to measure

citizen’s satisfaction of the services rendered by the government
departments.

5. Willingness to listen to citizens and act

Government must show enthusiasm in holding a dialogue with individual
citizens, activists and groups and act on their suggestions.

Judged on the above indicators on a scale of 1 to 10, if the departments score a rating
of 5 and above, we may then say that they are ready for citizen governance.

The challenge to citizen governance comes from structural constructs, politics, laws,
centralisation, tight institutional frameworks and fiscal measures and bureaucrats
who are unwilling to consult and involve citizens in policy making. Government will
have to remove these hurdles so that citizen governance becomes an enabling
mechanism to ensure that public goods and services are more accessible to
vulnerable sections of the people.

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References

Barber, B.R. (1998). A Place for US: How to make Society, Civil Society and
Democracy Strong. New York: Hill and Wang.

Dewey, John (1927). The Public and Its Problems.

King, C. S., Felty, K. M., & O’Neill, B. (1998). “The question of participation:
Towards authentic public participation in public administration.” Public
Administration Review, Vol. 58, No.4.

Olson, Mancur (1995). The Logic of Collective Action.

Osborne, D. and Plastrik, P. (1997). Banishing Bureaucracy: The Five Strategies for
Reinventing Government. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing.

Schachter, Hindy Lauer (1997). Reinventing Government or Reinventing Ourselves:

The Role of Citizen Owners in Making a Better Government. Albany, NY: State
University of New York Press.

Timney, Mary M. (1998). “Overcoming Administrative Barriers to Citizen

Participation: Citizens as Partners, Not Adversaries, in C. S. King, C. Stivers, and
collaborators, Government is US. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 88-
101.

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 Ushering in Transparency for Good Governance

by

V. K. Parigi, Workstream Leader (Accountable Workstream)

Dr. P. Geeta, Knowledge Manager (Governance & Capacity Building)
Rameesh Kailasam, Senior Manager (Finance, Administration & Contracts)
Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad

Transparency means that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a
manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is
freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such
decisions and their enforcement. Transparency ensures that enough
information is provided and that it is provided in easily understandable forms
and media.

This paper discusses the need for promoting transparency in decision making
in government through enhanced public participation, fixing accountability
of various actors and stakeholders for ushering in an era of good governance.

November 2004
 Ushering in Transparency for Good Governance
V. K. Parigi, Dr. P. Geeta, & Rameesh Kailasam
Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad

Good Governance

"The exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a

country's affairs at all levels. It comprises of the mechanisms, processes and
institutions, through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their
legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences." - UNDP

Two aspects of this definition merit closer attention.

Aspect 1: The concept of governance is broader than government

Governance is normally described as involving government, civil society and the

private sector in managing the affairs of a nation, which means that the responsibility
for managing the affairs of a nation is not limited to government alone, but includes a
wide variety of stakeholders including: state government, local governments; the
private sector; non-governmental and community-based organizations (NGOs/CBOs),
the media, professional associations and other members of civil society. And each
actor has a specific role to play based on its source of legitimacy and comparative
advantage.

Aspect 2: The concept of governance focuses on institutions and processes

In the context of allocating resources priorities need to be established through

processes that involve all stakeholders in decision-making. Transparency in decision-
making processes and in institutions has the potential to become a central strategy for
engaging stakeholders and improving the quality of overall governance.

In the present context, therefore, good governance describes a situation in which the
mechanisms, processes and instruments for decision-making and action facilitate
greater civic engagement through a participatory approach.

Transparency: Core principle of Good Governance

Good governance has major characteristics like participation, rule of law,

transparency, responsiveness, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness, efficiency,
accountability and strategic vision and consensus orientation. It assures that
corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the
voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making and
implementation. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society,
balancing between growth and distribution, present and future resource use.
Transparency is widely recognised as a core principle of good governance.
Transparency means sharing information and acting in an open manner. Free access to
information is a key element in promoting transparency. Information, however, must
be timely, relevant, accurate and complete for it to be used effectively. Transparency
is also considered essential for controlling corruption in public life.

Transparency and Civic Engagement

Civic engagement is understood as the active participation of citizens in public life

and their contribution to the common good. The level of trust in the government and
public agencies is a key factor that determines the extent and quality of civic
engagement. Loss of trust can lead to disengagement of citizens and discourage
participation of communities as well as the private sector in functions such as public
services delivery, or even in democratic processes such as elections.

Trust in public bodies is affected by two things:

o the quality of services that individuals and their families receive; and
o how open and honest organizations are about their performance, including their
willingness to admit to and learn from their mistakes.

Transparency helps not only to inform the public about development ideas and
proposals, but also to convince citizens that the public agencies are interested in
listening to their views and responding to their priorities and concerns. This in turn
enhances the legitimacy of the decision-making process and strengthens democratic
principles.

Transparency also influences civic engagement in a more direct manner.

Responsiveness often holds the key to successful involvement of citizens and the
private sector. Governments that share their assessments and plans with citizens and
seek their views on a regular basis can be far more effective in implementing
development programmes with the participation of stakeholders.

Thus transparency can help to stimulate active engagement of the private sector and
civil society in public affairs, thereby confirming the changed role of the government
as an enabler and facilitator of access to, rather than provider and controller of, goods
and services.

Transparency of Information & Disclosure

"A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is

but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever
govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm
themselves with the power knowledge gives."
-James Madison

Information is crucial to good governance as it reflects and captures government

activities and processes. Every citizen of the state has right to access information
under the control of public authorities consistent with public interest. The main
objective of governments providing information to its citizens is not only to promote
openness, transparency and accountability in administration, but also to ensure
participation of people in all matters related to governance.

All developed countries have recognised the need for freedom of information and
most of them have passed the FOI Act. In developing nations or nations in transition,
less than 40% of them have passed these laws. Most of these FOI laws have been
passed in the last decade. In India, the Union Government and state governments of
Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Delhi and Maharashtra have passed Right to
Information laws in the last few years.

Appendix 1 provides a comparison of FOI legislation in India. It compares the salient

features of the FOI laws of the Indian Union and States in terms of certain features:
scope of Act, fee for getting information, exceptions, time limit, urgent requests, suo
motu disclosures, appeals, private bodies, means of communications, publicity for the
act, training of civil servants, penalties and overseeing body.

Study of FOI legislations and their implementation suggests that a number of

bottlenecks exist in the way of free flow of information to the citizens which should
be removed for ushering in greater transparency. This requires the following:

• Strengthening of FOI legislation on the patterns of the Maharashtra and Delhi

Acts.
• Government Departments to provide their Annual Activity and Performance
Reports to civil society groups and the public with broadly agreed contents;
• Information about the services rendered by Departments, rules and regulations,
etc. to be placed in the public domain;
o Interactive sessions may be held by the Heads of the Departments with the
public to elicit citizens’ views on policies and programmes;
o Public access to budgetary processes and budget reports.
o Placing all Government Orders on the websites of the Departments;
o Public access to various reports of Committees and Commissions
appointed by the Government;
• Publication of white papers on all importance governance matters concerning the
public by public bodies;
• Measurement Books or ‘M Books’ of public works departments may be put in the
public domain on departmental websites.
• The public may have access to quality inspection documents relating to all major
public works.

Production and Dissemination of White Papers

Information is a key factor to ensure efficient and effective public services. It not only
empowers the people to exert demand for better services, it also empowers the service
providers to benchmark and make effort to provide deter services. The following
suggestions are for consideration:

• Production and dissemination of white papers by all Government

Departments/Agencies/Undertakings on implementation of programmes and
projects to be made mandatory;
• Steps may be taken to create a public opinion and to educate the people about the
decisions of the Governments at various levels; this can be achieved by placing on
the table of the State Legislature, white papers on various issues in standard
formats.
• These white papers will have to be given wide publicity through print and
electronic media.
• Discussions, seminars, meetings and similar other public discourses will have to
be organised to explain the pros and cons of the problems at all levels. Senior
officers of the government as also Ministers will have to actively participate in
these endeavours.
• The administration will have to be proactive rather than merely reacting to public
criticism as at present.
• This will require a change in the mindset of the higher bureaucracy; periodical
training, change management and refresher courses will help in this task.
• Every public undertaking/agency receiving money from the Government should
produce and place in the public domain annual report containing the structure of
the entity, vision, mission, functions, who worked in what capacities, what works
were undertaken, how expenditures were made and on what, achievements and
failure, details of independent scrutiny made on use of fund, and outstanding
results, if any.
• Each State Government may bring out each year a white paper on its public
revenues and public expenditure and pose for public discussion and debate options
which are available, in the short and medium term, for dealing with the situation.

The concept of a Public Disclosure Commission as in some advanced countries may

be experimented to guide and monitor statutory disclosures and aid citizens in the
availability of information they need.

Citizen’s Charters & Service Charters

In a democracy all power belongs to the people. They elect the government and the
government, in turn, must be accountable to the people. In this regard the preparation,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Citizen’s Charters is absolutely
essential. A Citizens’ Charter must adhere to the following principles:

• Consultation: People should be consulted regarding service levels & quality of

service
• Service Standards: People must be made aware of what to expect in terms of
level and quality of services
• Access: People should have equal access to the services to which they are entitled
• Courtesy: People should be treated with courtesy and consideration
• Information: People must receive full and accurate information about their
services
• Openness and Transparency: People should be informed about government
departments’ operations, budget and management structures
• Redress: People are entitled to an apology, explanation and remedial action if the
promised standard of service is not delivered
• Value for Money: Public services should be provided economically and
efficiently
The implementation of citizen’s charters must be monitored publicly and public
service report cards be published to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

Redressal of Public Grievances

Machinery for redress of public grievances has to be strengthened in every

Ministry/Department, fixing of time limits for disposal of public grievances. An
online computerized Public Grievances Redressal and Monitoring System (PGRAMS)
may be operated to facilitate citizens to lodge and monitor the progress of their
grievances on internet. An independent authority - a grievances redressal authority -
may oversee the action on redressal of public grievances. The following suggestions
may be considered:

• Establishment of an Institution of Ombudsman to oversee redressal of grievances

(as in Insurance and Banking Sectors) or a Public Grievance Commission (as in
Delhi)
• Strengthening of Consumer Courts
• Establishment of a grievance redressal machinery under citizens’ charter
• Establishment of Call Centre and development of a web-enabled grievances
disposal monitoring system;
• Involvement of civil society in the processing and tracking disposal of grievances;
• Fixing time frames for grievance redressal;
• Monitoring of grievance redressal at the Head of the Department, Secretary and
Minister levels periodically using computerized monitoring system and placing
the results before the public.

Publishing Annual Performance Report

An Annual White Paper reporting Performance during the year could be contemplated
keeping in view the following components:

• Targets and performance during the financial year in terms of measurable

indicators;
• Comparison with targets and performance in previous year;
• Measures taken for performance improvement;
• Peoples’ feedback and ‘Value for Money’ reports
• Development priorities and performance targets for the following year
• Financial statements for the year reported
• Financial Audit Report
• Performance Audit Report

The principles and guidelines for performance audit need to be spelt out and made
available to public agencies.

Financial Transparency in Government

Accountability and transparency are indispensable pillars of good governance that

compel the state and civil society to focus on results, seek clear objectives, develop
effective strategies, and monitor and report on performance. Through public financial
accountability and transparency, governments can achieve congruence between public
policy, its implementation and the efficient allocation of resources. Lack of financial
accountability could lead to inefficiency, waste, and pilferages, and even impede
development.

The three components of the financial transparency cycle are:

• Records Management : Creation, Maintenance and Use Disposition;
• Accounting: Planning, Budgeting and Expenditure, Internal Control and Internal
Auditing, and Financial Reporting;
• External Auditing: Compliance, Value-for-Money and Certification Auditing.

Public Access to Information on Public Finances

Increased transparency of and the public’s access to, information on public finances is
essential to supplement legislative scrutiny. Opportunities need to be provided for
public consultation or participation throughout the budget process. Development and
maintenance of avenues for filing, follow up and redressal of public complaints to
support identification of instances of waste and mismanagement of resources is
essential. Public expenditure impact and efficacy studies may be conducted from
time to time by credible agencies and placed in the public domain.

Fiscal Responsibility Legislation

There is need for a Fiscal Responsibility Legislation to improve and enhance

accountability in the conduct of fiscal policy by specifying principles of responsible
fiscal management by strengthening the reporting requirements of the Government
and for other purposes. The Act should enunciate fiscal management principles and
measures for fiscal transparency. Accordingly, the Government would need to ensure
that borrowings are used for productive purposes and for accumulation of capital
assets and not for financing current expenditure. The Government would also need to
ensure a reasonable degree of stability and predictability in the level of tax burden and
maintain the integrity of the tax system by minimizing special incentives, concessions
and exemptions. The non-tax revenue policies would be in due regard to cost recovery
and equity.

Transparency in Public Procurement Legislation

All procurement in government may be regulated by a Transparency in Public

Procurement Legislation. This law may be enacted for ensuring transparency in public
purchase of goods and services, in selecting tenderers, or inviting, processing and
acceptance of tenders by procurement entities including e-procurement agencies. It is
meant to provide a legal framework for all public procurement and should be
applicable to Government Departments, Public Sector Undertakings, Universities,
Panchayats, Local Bodies, Statutory Boards, and those who receive money from
Government, etc.,
Developing a Framework for Transparency

Good Governance Approach

It will be useful to review the comparative advantage of the major stakeholders in

promoting good governance before finalizing the strategies for promoting
transparency through the governance approach.

The Government

The government that is accountable to people and is bound by the law of the land can
rightly claim to act on behalf of the people. Leadership, therefore, is government's
pre-eminent role in promoting good governance. This leadership applies in particular
to ensuring an equitable distribution of benefits and to creating an enabling
framework for development. The strategy of the government therefore would include
passing laws, reforming the civil service, and promoting economic liberalisation, and
also promote public awareness on specific issues. An open government should be a
goal and disclosure rather than secrecy should be the norm of governance.

Private Sector

The role of private sector is very important as it is an important means of creating jobs
and employment that in turn generate revenue through taxes. These taxes are used by
the government to design the social programmes that benefit citizens. Therefore, the
private sector and the government need to work towards in harmony and
understanding for providing better opportunities for citizens. Transparent corporate
governance is a must for a responsible private sector.

Non-Governmental and Community-based Organizations (NGOs/CBOs)

The NGOs and CBOs promote the interests of citizens, particularly under-represented
groups such as women and the poor. Another aspect of their legitimacy is their
explicit not-for-profit orientation. Transparency, however, is as vital to these
organizations as it is for government and the private sector. Their advocacy role can
be undermined by undemocratic internal structures that may raise suspicion regarding
their motives or their not-for-profit status.

Media

The media have an important role to play in promoting good governance. Their role
should not be seen as limited to identifying and exposing corruption, but should also
recognise and capitalise on their role as a source of truth. They have an important role
to play in reinforcing and building momentum for change by recognising good
practice and highlighting successes in achieving development objectives. Like non-
governmental organizations, however, their credibility may be undermined by
unprofessional conduct that leads to questions regarding their bias.
 Professional Associations

The legitimacy of these organizations is based on the professional standards they

profess to uphold. Their responsibility regarding promoting good governance and
combating corruption is to publish and disseminate their standards and sanction those
members who violate them including codes of ethics or anti-corruption clauses in
their membership requirements can serve as valuable tools that contribute to creating
a culture intolerant of corruption.

The Individual Citizen

Good governance cannot succeed without committed individuals. While the rights of
individuals are widely discussed when it comes to issues of corruption, they also have
a responsibility to promote good governance: to be informed and to actively
participate in the decisions that affect their lives. The responsibility of individuals
taking on leadership roles is also equally important. The office holders must act with
integrity on behalf of those they act in trust. Integrity improvements at the level of the
individual, therefore, have an important role to play.

Good governance requires that all the actors engaged in the governance process
follow well-defined codes of conduct and their public affairs are subject to scrutiny by
the public under legally stipulated procedures.

We recommend the following strategy for transparency to promote good governance.

Strategy for Transparency and Good Governance

SL Strategy Specific Initiatives
No
1 Strategy 1: Access to • Access to Information Laws
information o Right to information legislation
o Records Management laws and Computerisation
o Whistle Blower Protection
o Disclosure of Income and Assets subject to rules
o Complaints and Ombudsman Office
• Putting information in the public domain
o Putting up ‘M’ books on the website
o Web based approvals to be put on the website
2 Strategy 2: Ethics and • Developing and implementing model code of conduct
Integrity for political representatives, civil service, judiciary,
civil society groups etc
• Removal of all discretionary powers provided to
officials under the law which may lead to
misappropriation in government
• Public hearings & Public meetings
o Transparency in procedures and systems by
opening up procedures for public review
o Peoples’ estimates; social audit
• Prior consultation with public in the process of policy
making
 Strategy for Transparency and Good Governance
o Participatory budgeting
o Transparency in budget as done by some state
governments
o Independent audit
• Administrative procedure legislation providing for
transparent and accountable administrative action.

3 Strategy 3: Institutional • Public service agreements for delivery of services by

reforms executive agencies – holding them accountable
objectively and transparently
• Participation of stakeholders in various decision making
processes
o Citizen committees to be a part of the decision
making process
o Encourage and facilitate public participation
through

Public Hearings

Study Circles

Citizen Advisory Boards

Government Contract Committees

Public Watchdog Groups

Independent Anti-Corruption Agencies
• Enhance participatory decision making through
constitution of Citizen Boards and focus groups
• Capacity building of citizen and civil society groups
4 Strategy 4: Targeting • Easy access of government officials to the public
specific issues o Contact numbers of senior officials to be made
available to the public for the purpose of
registration of grievances
o Departmental websites to provide the contact
numbers, emails and other details of senior
officials
• Citizen service facilitation counters

5 Strategy 5: Assessment • Performance Measurement and Management

and Monitoring o Monitoring departmental performances through
performance indicators
o Annual Performance White Papers
• Developing and Implementation of citizens’ charter in
all government departments Citizens’ Charters
o Citizen charters to give timelines of service
delivery
• Publishing Annual Reports
o Dissemination of white papers
o Annual reports published by departments with
pre-specified framework for contents
 References

1. Centre for Good Governance. 2003. A Guide to Developing and Implementing a

Citizens’ Charter. CGG, Hyderabad
2. Centre for Good Governance. A Model Action Plan for Implementing Freedom of
Information. CGG, Hyderabad, 2003.
3. Centre for Good Governance. A Draft on the Model Code of Good Governance,
prepared for the Government of India. 2004. CGG.
4. Centre for Good Governance. State Financial Accountability Assessment
Methodology. CGG, Hyderabad, 2003.
5. Centre for Good Governance, Andhra Pradesh Performance Accountability Bill
2003, CGG, Hyderabad.
6. Report of the National Commission for the Review of the Working of the
Constitution. 2002.
7. Devesh Kapur, The State in a Changing World: A Critique of the 1997 World
Development Report, Harvard University Weatherhead Center for International
Affairs, Working Paper Series 98-02 February 1998.
8. United Nations Development Programme. Governance for Sustainable Human
Development: A UNDP Policy Document on Good Governance. 1997. New York.
9. Johanna Mendelson Forman, Promoting Civil Society in Good Governance:
Lessons for the Security Sector, Paper Prepared for the Workshop “Promoting
Civil Society in Good Governance: Lessons for the Security Sector” held on 15-16
April, 2002 in Prague, Czech Republic.
 Appendix 1
Comparison of FOI Laws of the Indian Union and Indian States

Provision Goa 1997 Tamil Nadu Rajasthan Karnataka Delhi 2001 Maharashtra FOI Bill 2000 Recommended
1997 2000 2000 2002
Scope of Act Can obtain Can obtain Can obtain Can obtain Can obtain Obtaining Obtaining The scope of the
certified certified certified certified certified certified copies of certified copies Act should be
copies of copies of copies of copies of copies of documents or of documents or wide enough to
documents or documents or documents documents documents records. records, cover the various
records, records. or records, or records. or records, inspection of ways in which
inspection of inspection of inspection of records, taking information can be
records, records, records, notes and obtained by the
taking notes taking notes taking notes extracts. citizens.
and extracts, and extracts, and extracts,
inspection of inspection of inspection of
public works, public public
taking sample works, works,
of material taking taking
from public sample of sample of
work. material material
from public from public
work. work.
Fee Not No provision To be To be Not Charges for To be Should not exceed
exceeding prescribed. prescribed; exceeding processing and prescribed. cost of processing
cost of Decided and not to cost of making available Provisions for and making
processing paid at the exceed processing information. additional fees. available
and providing time of actual cost and making information and
information. request and of available waiver where
information supplying. information. payment of fee is
may be likely to cause
refused if financial hardship.
not paid.
Exceptions 6 exemptions 22 10 8 8 11 exemptions 7 exemptions + Limited to specific
but exemptions + exemptions exemptions with some public 4 grounds for requirements for
information 2 additional +4 interest override refusal. non- disclosure;
 given to State broad exemptions additional + 3 additional Information to no class
legislature exemptions grounds for grounds for be given if exceptions; public
available to refusal refusal. Also any reasonably interest override.
citizens information that severable.
has to be
disclosed to
Parliament/
Legislative
Assembly will be
available to
applicants. Info to
be given if
reasonably
severable.
Time Limit 30 working 30 working 30 working 15 working Normally 15 working days 30 working Shorter time limit
days for days days for days for within 15 from granting or days for for refusal
granting or granting or granting days, but can refusing – granting or
refusing refusing information be extended provision for refusing.
request request from date of to 30 days. extension by
receipt of another 15 days
payment of with reasons.
fee; or
refusing
request
within 15
days from
the date of
application.
Urgent If required for No provision No No No provision Within 24 hours Within 48 If required for life
Requests life and provision provision of the request hours, and liberty, then
liberty, within involving life and concerning life within 24 hrs.
48 hrs. liberty of a and liberty of a
person. person.
Suo Motu No provision No provision Wide Particulars Particulars Particulars of Particulars of There should be a
Disclosures discretion to of of organisation, its organisation, its mandatory time-
 exhibit or organisation, organisation, functions, power functions, bound disclosure
expose its functions, its functions, and duties of power and for all categories
information. power and power and officers, norms, duties of of information that
duties of duties of rules, regulations, officers, norms, would be of use to
officers, officers, list of records rules, the public at large.
norms, norms, laws, available to regulations, list Such information
details of rules, citizens, details of of records should be
facilities to regulations, facilities to get available to periodically
get list of information, facts citizens, details updated and
information, records related to any of facilities to published.
its decisions, available to decision and get info, facts
facts related citizens, project scheme related to any
to any details of before the decision,
project facilities to initiation of the reasons for its
scheme get same, and other decisions, and
before the information, information as project scheme
initiation of facts related may be before the
the same, to any prescribed. initiation of the
etc. decision, same, etc.
reasons for
its decisions,
and project
scheme
before the
initiation of
the same,
etc.
Appeals No internal One internal Internal 1st appeal to Appeal to an First appeal to Internal appeals Independent forum
appeal; appeal, but appeal, be independent internal appellate as prescribed, for appeal
appeal to appeals to Appeal to prescribed, body, the authority and 2nd appeal to essential. Court
administrative courts barred. district 2nd appeal to Public second appeal to govt. but courts appeal not
tribunal. vigilance appellate Grievances Lokayukta/Upa- barred. recommended in
Commission tribunal, but Commission, Lokayukta whose India as it is time-
or civil courts but courts decision is final. consuming.
service barred. barred. Jurisdiction of
 tribunal, courts barred.
courts
barred.
Private Bodies Private bodies No provision No No No provision Includes any body No provision Private bodies
executing provision provision which gets aid getting aid from
work for or (directly or government –
on behalf of indirectly) from from taxpayers’
the government money must be
government. including aid like covered.
tax benefits, land
concessions, etc.
Means of No provision No provision No No No provision No provision No provision Specific directions
Communication provision provision for effective
communication of
information.
Publicity for No provision No provision No No No provision No provision No provision Mandatory to
the Act provision provision publicise
provisions of the
Act.
Training of No provision No provision No No No provision No provision No provision Mandatory
Civil Servants provision provision provisions for
training.
Penalties Penalties and No provision Disciplinary For delay Disciplinary Appellate No provision Penalties for
discretionary action and without action and authority can wrongful delay,
imposition of penalties to reasonable penalties to impose fine of wrong information
Rs.100/day be described cause or be Rs. 250 per day or unjustified
for delay. supplying prescribed in for delay and up refusal are
wrong the Rules. to Rs. 2000 on important checks
information Public Info. on arbitrariness in
up to Officer for handling
Rs.2000/- knowingly giving information
fine + incorrect/ requests.
disciplinary misleading info/
action. wrong/incomplete
info. Apart from
 this PIO subject
to disciplinary
proceedings.
Overseeing State Council No provision No No State State Council-not No provision Need regulatory
Body provision provision Council regulatory body, overseeing body
but empowered to
monitor and
review the
working of the
Act every six
months.
Additionally, a
Records
Commission will
advise the Govt.
on release of old
records to the
public.

Source: Global Trends on the Right to Information: A Survey of South Asia, Article 19, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, July 2001.
 Globalisation, Information Technology and Governance

Dr. P. K. Mohanty, IAS

Director General & Executive Director
Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad

The world is going through one of the most remarkable periods of

transformation in human history. Globalization is sweeping across nations. Rapid
flows of goods, services, capital, technology, ideas, information and people across
borders; increased financial integration of the world economy; and rise of knowledge
as a key driver of economic growth are resulting in new challenges and opportunities
for development. Improvements in transportation have resulted in a dramatic decline
in the costs of transporting goods by air, water, and ground. Technological
developments in computing and telecommunications have reduced transaction
costs. With decreasing trade and investment restrictions, shrinking economic
distance, more mobile resources and integrated world financial markets, socio-
economic trends are fast transmitting across national boundaries. Innovations in
transportation, information and communication technologies are resulting in
unprecedented levels of integration between separated parts of the globe. Economic
activity is now structured on the “international” rather than the “national” level. It
takes place in a highly integrated, electronically networked and knowledge-based
environment. Exchange rates, interest rates and stock prices are now intimately
connected across countries through a globally integrated financial market.
Globalization and technology are defying the handicaps of distance and time.
Volumes of data and money are quickly transferring between nations. Systems have
enabled faster dissemination of ideas, quicker interactions, easier management of
interconnections, and integration of business.

Data on trade in goods (imports and exports), private capital flows and foreign
domestic investment (FDI) as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and
growth in international tourist arrivals, tourism receipts and expenditure indicate that
globalization has expanded considerably in recent decades [UNCTD (2004)]. The
world value of total merchandise exports from all countries in current dollars more
than trebled between 1980 and 2002 - from $2,031 billion to $6,414 billion. One-third
of these exports were from developing countries. Similarly, the value of total exports
of services over the same period quadrupled from $385 billion to $1,611 billion.
About one-fourth of these were from the developing world. During 1980-2002, the
world inward foreign direct investment stock grew ten-fold - from $699 billion in 1980
to $7,122 billion in 2002. Developing countries accounted for about one third of the
inward FDI stock in 2002.

Several factors account for the rapid globalization during the last two
decades. These include:

• fewer trade and investment restrictions and lowering of tariffs,

• decline in transport and communication costs,
• rise of the tertiary economy and growth of service industries,
• expansion of trade in merchandise and services,
 • growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) and private capital flows,
• expansion of market-seeking and efficiency-seeking operations of
transnational corporations (TNCs) through FDI, mergers and
acquisitions,
• advances in science and technology, including ICT, and the rise of the
Internet,
• the “tradability revolution” – making services directly tradable and
allowing “integrated production networks”,
• importance of skill and knowledge-based industries and the role of
knowledge in total productivity and economic growth,
• business process outsourcing of corporate service functions,
• widespread democratization, and movement from “command and
control” to “market-oriented” economies,
• importance of international organizations like World Trade Organisation
and trade blocks making “rules of the game”, and
• growth of global social and political networks.

These factors, together with market forces, have given rise to today’s technology-
driven, knowledge-based and increasingly integrated world economy.

Information and communication technology (ICT) has played a key role in

globalization and integration. It has facilitated the heralding of a “Third Wave”,
comparable to the First Wave, the Agricultural Revolution and the Second Wave, the
Industrial Revolution. The world is shifting from a manufacturing-based industrial
economy to a service-dominated and network-based knowledge economy. Trade in
services, powered by ICT, is increasing too. The spread of ICT and the Internet are
among the most distinguishing features of the new globalizing world. The “World
Wide Web”, of which the Internet is a prime component, is becoming an epitome of
the global society. With its decentralized and interconnected networks spanning the
globe, the “Internet” has emerged as a symbol of globalization. The number of
Internet users in the world grew 26% between 2001 and 2002. In 2001, 27% of
Internet users hailed from developing countries, a figure that rose to 32% of the
world’s 591 million internet users in 2002. By the year 2008, 50% of the total Internet
users could be in developing countries. Particularly significant growth is foreseen for
Asia [UNCTD (2004)].

Information and communication technology (ICT) is emerging as an important

catalyst for transformation of business, society, and government in the globalizing
world. Today ICT forms the "backbone" of several industries, such as banking,
airlines and publishing. It is also an important value-adding component of consumer
products, such as television, camera, car, and mobile telephone. ICT has facilitated
packaging of information and sending the same across the world at negligible cost.
The new technology has increased the velocity of international business operations,
division of labor, and integration of production processes. ICT has revolutionized the
interactions between government, business and citizens – G2B, G2C and B2C,
G2G, B2B and C2C operations. The Internet is regarded as one of the most
revolutionary transformations that world trade has ever seen. It has enabled trade in
services by allowing them to be split into components, each of which can be located
where it can be produced most efficiently and at the least cost. It is no longer
necessary for providers and users to be physically close to each other. As a result,

2
IT-enabled services are increasingly globalizing in the same way as manufactures
did for decades. ICT has led to a shift in trade from atoms to bits, a movement from
tangibles to intangibles, from manufactures to services, and a transition from the
industrial world to the information world.

The use of ICT by enterprises – or e-business – is closely connected with the

growth of the Internet. In 2002, 95% of e-commerce took place in the developed
countries. The United States is by far the largest user of e-commerce. In 2001,
annual business-to-business B2B online sales in the United States totaled $995
billion. The value of e-commerce in the European Union in 2002 was estimated at
around $185 billion to $200 billion. In the Asia-Pacific region, it was expected to grow
rapidly, to about $200 billion in 2003. In Latin America, $6.5 billion of online B2B
transactions were forecast for 2002 and $12.5 billion for 2003. African B2B e-
commerce was expected to amount to $0.5 billion in 2002 and $0.9 billion in 2003,
with South Africa accounting for 80% to 85% of these figures [UNCTD (2004)].

To be a multi-national company in the past, one had to be huge. One needed

offices around the world to handle not only the corporate affairs but also local laws,
customs, government functionaries and distribution of products. Today people in
different locations can form a virtual company and access the global market. The
manufacturing of bits could happen any where and at any time. Virtual corporations,
informal collaborations and joint ventures are increasing in number. This will be more
so when we move to a ‘24X7’ environment, where entities are open for business for
24 hours per day, 7 days a week. This will lead to a situation of ‘anything, anywhere,
anytime’. The virtual corporations bring together expertise and experience relating to
multiple tasks in a quick and cost-effective manner. The industrial age created scale
economies from manufacturing with uniform and repetitive methods in any one given
location and at one time. The information age exhibits the same scale economies,
but with little regard for space and time.

IT has become a key to the evolution of our practices in many areas:

education, communication, personal relations, business management, work
effectiveness, productivity, etc. Teleworking and telecommuting are becoming a
reality. People are logging into their computers and carrying out work from home,
hotels, aeroplanes, and the like. Sale and purchase of products on the Internet,
electronic procurements and auctions, service delivery on electronic counters,
remote diagnosis and telemedicine provide examples where business can be
transacted without the limitations of time, distance or corporate law. Distance
sometimes acts in the opposite direction. Replies from remote places are often
received quicker than those from physically closer locations. Time zone changes
allow people to answer e-mails while the sender is asleep. The concept of an e-mail
ID signifies how physical distance is losing meaning. Geography is no longer the
limiting factor to global trade that it once was. The post-information age is likely to be
“a place without space”.

Information and communication technology has brought in a new era of

managerial innovation and productivity. ICT has enabled many of the most important
process and product innovations in the last decade. It is emerging as an effective
tool to achieve performance improvement at the level of the firm, industry and
economy. It has been instrumental in improving operations, enabling redesigning of

3
business systems, and creating new opportunities. Companies are using ICT to
improve systems and processes, streamline existing processes, and spread
efficiency. They are differentiating innovative products and creating value networks.
The largest impact of ICT on productivity has been in ICT-producing and information-
intensive industries. ICT has been instrumental for technology-led transformation in
sectors such as semi-conductors, computer manufacturing, securities, brokerage,
wholesale and retail trade, retail banking and telecommunications.

The world is fast moving towards a knowledge economy. This is due to

growing cross-border transmission of knowledge through trade, foreign investment,
movement of natural persons, technology transfer and electronic communications.
The Internet is spearheading a consultative and participatory global culture.
Information superhighways facilitate the instantaneous movement of weightless bits
and bytes. More people, more often and more intensely now engage in the world as
a single location. Technological advancement and reduction in costs have enabled
various actors in the economic process enter into relationships with other actors of
the world quickly and cost-effectively. The “World Wide Web” provides a transparent
window through which global experiences and best practices are shared. It enables
knowledge-networking, learning, saving costs of trial and error, and avoiding
uncertainties. Knowledge is power and information is the key to knowledge. ICT
facilitates data information transmission, knowledge acquisition, dissemination and
creation of a value chain. International exchanges act as conduits for knowledge
transfer. Knowledge-intensive sectors like education, health and bio-technology hold
promises of phenomenal growth due to the advances in ICT. Developing countries
need not re-create costly knowledge; they have the advantage of acquiring and
adapting knowledge already available in the richer countries. ICT facilitates this.

While information and communication technologies have created new

opportunities for economic growth and development, their diffusion across the globe
and within countries has been highly uneven. Critics argue that globalization
produces a sharp dichotomy between the technology ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ – an
economy in which the benefits of change are captured by transnational corporations
and their highly skilled work force. They contend that ICT is creating a structural
under-class, who are the victims of ‘digital divide’. In a democracy with an active
media, growth processes that benefit some while excluding others are not perceived
as equitable or sustainable. The distributional equity issues associated with
globalization and new technologies need to be addressed.

Globalization and new technology present many avenues for improving

governance. ICT has opened up new opportunities for governments to manage
things differently and do business in a more efficient manner by managing
information effectively and re-engineering processes. United Nations identifies the
following areas where governmental operations can be improved by application of
ICT:

• e-Government: This applies to inter-organizational relationships, and includes

policy coordination, policy implementation and public service delivery.

4
 • e-Administration: This applies to intra-organizational relationships, and
includes policy development, organizational activities and knowledge
management.

• e-Governance: This applies to interaction between citizens, government

organizations, public and elected officials, and includes democratic
processes, open government and transparent decision-making.

A defining characteristic of traditional public sectors has been the existence of a

large physical infrastructure. This was to deliver programmes through a network of
service delivery points and offices across a country. The physical infrastructure was
the most effective way to deliver public goods and services directly to citizens. ICT
now allows governments to experiment successfully with new ways of delivering
services without the service providers and clients being physically close to each
other.

Information and communication technology is acting as a catalyst for

organizational transformation and change in government by influencing governance
in several ways:

• reaping scale economies and improving efficiency by automation of

complicated and repetitive governance tasks;

• reducing personal interface of citizens and business with public service

providers and cutting delay, red tape, corruption and harassment; and

• enhancing transparency by making information available to citizens through

web sites, reducing information monopoly, and empowering citizens to put
pressure on public officials to deliver better performance.

ICT allows simplification of complicated government processes and better

management of performance. As Osborne and Gaebler observed:

“Government is famous for endless figures and forms. To an outsider, it seems like
an industry that pays an enormous amount of attention to numbers. People in
government are always counting something or churning out some statistical report.
But most of this counting is focused on inputs; how much is spent, how many are
served, level of service each person receives. Very seldom does it focus on
outcomes, on results”

David Osborne and Ted Gaebler: Reinventing Government, 1992

Information and communication technology now provide opportunities to

governments to better manage results, measure and monitor performance. They are
learning how to structure a rich universe of information and integrate it into decision
making for results.

While providing numerous opportunities for better governance, globalization

and ICT have also brought in many new challenges for governments. These pertain
to creating networks and an environment for absorption and growth of information

5
technology, bridging the digital divide, management of laws and regulations,
knowledge management, and capacity building for information management.

The Global Information Technology Report uses a Networked Readiness

Index (NRI) to assess the comparative progress of countries along different
dimensions of progress in ICT. NRI is defined as "the degree of preparation of a
nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT developments". The Index
is a composite of three components: the environment for ICT offered by a given
country or community; the readiness of the community's key stakeholders
(individuals, businesses, and governments) to use ICT; and finally, the usage of ICT
amongst these stakeholders. Comparisons on NRI between countries over the years
suggest that the differences between nations and regions in terms of ICT readiness
are large, with considerable polarization. Further, disparities in the levels of ICT
readiness and usage translate into disparities in the levels of productivity and
prosperity. The governments need to take steps to enhance e-readiness and e-
capability of all sections of the society. They need to bridge the digital divide.

National laws developed through national political processes tend to be local

and physical. These laws are normally enforced within physical borders. Regulatory
regimes relying on “lawful jurisdiction” are subject to limitations in a world of
information technology and integration. In emerging cyber markets, national frontiers
mean too little. The difficulty of isolating where activities take place on the Internet,
the intangible nature of goods and services exchanged over it, and the anonymity
that the Internet provides, present formidable challenges for any legal system.
Traditional laws are unsuitable to deal with the virtual economic and social activities
with transnational implications. A legal framework for the cyber markets needs to be
established in addition to the strengthening of property rights, contract laws and
regulatory environment for ICT-related activities. Laws pertaining to companies, anti-
trust, patents, copyrights, defamation and obscenity, censorship, retail trade
regulation and licensing, consumer protection, etc. require structural changes to be
useful in the globalization scenario. For example, laws need to be developed to deal
with situations such as occurring when a product ordered through the Internet never
arrives or turns out to be defective. Similarly, a host of laws dealing with e-
governance, data standards, and e-security needs to be designed. Electronic
business, including e-commerce, is bound to gain importance in the years to come. It
requires an appropriate framework of rules and regulatory mechanisms.

Knowledge creation, transfer and diffusion are emerging as the key focus
areas for governments. Knowledge externalities transcend national borders. If
people could free-ride the knowledge associated with an innovation, the innovator
will have no incentive to invest in the costly process of creating knowledge. Left to
their own, firms will tend to under-invest in research and development (R&D) and
under-produce knowledge. There is thus a need for public policy to encourage R&D
activities. Public interventions aimed at promoting the transfer and diffusion of
technology might include public funding of basic research, networked infrastructure,
protection of investments in reputation, including patent protection laws, copyrights
and other forms of intellectual property rights, R&D tax credits, international treaties
and attracting foreign direct investment from transnational corporations specializing
in knowledge. Public policy is required to ensure that the right incentives are
provided by governments for the creation and dissemination of knowledge by the

6
private sector agents. Governments need to facilitate acquisition, absorption and
communication of knowledge. They also need to undertake direct measures to
address information failure when the market does not provide knowledge services
adequately. Governments can facilitate the operation of markets by requiring the
disclosure of information that reduces the cost of market transactions. With the
growing importance of services in the economy, the need for information on the
quantity and quality of services assume critical significance. Many services are in the
nature of public goods. The operation of markets in these services requires effective
regulation by government.

There is also another emerging issue. ICT has greatly facilitated the flow of
information to governments. This often outpaces the capacity of governments to
process, assimilate and address it. The governments face an environment where
increasing volumes of information are transmitted more rapidly and more widely than
ever before. They are grappling with how to use this growing volume of data. The
management of information technology is itself a big challenge for governments and
public servants so as to avoid the “garbage-in and garbage-out” syndrome. A
critically important requirement to harness the power of ICT for improving
governance is to enhance the capacity of public institutions and civil servants to
make use of information to their advantage. Building e-governance capabilities is
essential to harness the power of new technology.

International cooperation is another key challenge that national governments

face. Such cooperation, supported by international institutions and pluralistic
decision-making, can help countries in several ways to secure greater benefits from
domestic policies. Shared commitments and coordinated approaches can avoid
beggar-thy-neighbor policies, address international spillovers, curb the abuse of
market power, lessen transaction costs, reduce information asymmetries, promote
technology transfer, and assist in capacity building. It can play a valuable role in
augmenting investment, infrastructure and human capital in low-income countries.
Equity in the international economic order, however, is a key issue. A significant part
of the humanity does not have the capacity to shape its own living environment, let
alone international policies. Many of the poorest countries remain marginal in spite of
impressive macro gains from globalization. The affluent countries need to be
persuaded to share a small gain from their globalization proceeds for those left out of
the mainstream. Developing countries have to fight for a just and equitable global
order.

The challenge of the state in a fast-globalizing and high technology world is to

serve both as a conduit for the forces of change and a catalyst to promote, absorb
and manage change. Governments have a crucial role to play in connecting what is
happening globally to what is needed locally. They need to interpret and
communicate to citizens the implications of globalization for public policy decisions.
They must assist citizens and business to reconcile and combine global imperatives
and local interests. Governments have to strike a balance between harnessing the
advantages of globalization and providing a secure and stable social and economic
domestic environment for growth and poverty reduction. Globalization is making
governance more complex and challenging by bringing in new political, social,
technological and institutional complexities in addition to economic opportunities.

7
Dealing with the impacts of globalization requires the governments to assume new or
additional roles:

• to understand the interdependence of national, international and global

issues;
• to ensure that local dimensions of public policy issues are reflected in how
national interests are represented in the international arena;
• to ensure that the impacts of global changes inform the management of local
issues;
• to facilitate people harness the opportunities of wealth creation made possible
by global markets;
• to provide safety nets for those adversely affected by liberalization and global
changes; and
• to address the issues of capacity creation to cope with emerging challenges –
both for people and administration.

While new technologies have the potential of improving governance, they are by no
means sufficient for good governance. Governments need to understand, manage
and lead change effectively. There is a need for building capability of the state and
its apparatus to adapt to the new realities and exploit the opportunities for
development and poverty reduction presented by globalization. They have to do so
in an environment where their control over national trade and investment policies is
dwindling and where international cooperation is assuming critical importance.

8
References

Dicken, Peter. 2003. Global Shift: Transforming the World Economy. London: Paul
Chapman

Dutta Soumitra, Bruno Lanvin and Fiona Paua. 2003. The Global Information
Technology Report. Oxford University Press.

International Monetary Fund. 2003. Global Economic Outlook: Public Debt in

Emerging Markets

Nordstrom, H. “Trade, Income Disparity and Poverty: An Overview”: in Trade,

Income Disparity and Poverty, eds D. Ben-David, H. Nordstrom and L.A. Winters.
Special Studies No. 5 (Geneva: World Trade Organisation. 1999.)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 2001. Science,

Technology and Industry Outlook: Drivers of Growth: Information Technology,
Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development.

--- 1998. Open Markets Matter: The Benefits of Trade and Investment Liberalization
(Paris: OECD)

Rondinelli, A. Dennis & G. Shabbir Cheema. 2002. Reinventing Government for the
Twenty-First Century: State Capacity in a Globalizing Society. Kumarian Press, Inc.

Stern, Nicholas. 2002. “Dynamic Development: Innovation and Inclusion.” Munich

Lectures in Economics, Ludwig Maxmillan University, Centre for Economic Studies.
Munich, November 19.

Wolcott. P., L. Press, W. McHenry, S. Goodman, and W. Foster. 2001. "A

Framework for Assessing the Global Diffusion of the Internet," Journal of the
Association for Information Systems 2(Article 6).

World Bank. 2002. World Development Indicators 2004.

World Trade Organisation. 2004. World Trade Report 2004: Exploring the linkage
between the domestic policy and international trade

United Nations. 2004, World Investment Report 2004: The Shift Towards Services.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. 2004. Development and

Globalization: Facts and Figures. United Nations. New York and Geneva

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2001. Human Development

Report: Making New Technologies Work for Human Development. New York: Oxford
University Press
--- 2003. Human Development Report. Millennium Development Goals: A compact
among nations to end human poverty

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1806

Section area

Use of ICT in improving governance and social

accountability with a pro-poor approach:
reflections from India
Dr Rajiv Sharma, Director General, Centre for Good Governance, India

T
he issue of digital divide is often discussed in terms of This paper gives an illustration of some projects in
the outreach of information technology and communica- India that focus on a pro-poor approach in service
tion infrastructure that provides electronic connectivity. delivery with simplification of the processes to improve
Although availability of adequate bandwidth and reasonable accountability, transparency, responsiveness and effi-
access to internet are key factors in bridging the digital divide, these ciency of the government agencies in providing some
alone are not sufficient for providing benefits of e-governance to very basic services to the citizen. Some of the initia-
the common people, particularly the poor in developing countries. tives mentioned here have been taken by the Centre
The relevance and usefulness of content to meet the local needs of for Good Governance (CGG), Hyderabad, India.
people are very important in making a creative use of technology
to bridge the digital divide for achieving the developmental goals.
Not only this, a conscious effort to enmesh the basic principles of Improving accountability in the housing
good governance in information technology related initiatives is programme for the poor
also necessary to ensure that the poor and the vulnerable are able India has an ambitious programme to help poor
to easily access the services that the government provides to them. households in acquiring a low cost house. There
are schemes involving large subsidies to construct
these houses for the poor. Considering the very
Image: source

large number of beneficiaries in these schemes, there

always exist some possibilities of wrong targeting and
misuse of subsidy.
A web-enabled system was developed by CGG to give
project management and MIS support to the executing
body in the government, but to also enable equal access
to citizens, beneficiaries and civil society in obtaining
information.
This system can be used to get up-to-date information
about a beneficiary, stage of construction of a house,
details about the money released as subsidy, materi-
als supplied by the executing agency, and relevant
photographs that can be easily uploaded. Besides the
government officials, this information can also be seen
in public domain by the general public, civil society
activists, community based organizations and people’s
representatives. It is therefore possible for them to
carry out verification at the field level to cross-check
the information.
This e-governance initiative results in a high
degree of transparency and accountability of govern-
ment functionaries towards the poor. This checks
misappropriation of subsidies and also improves the
management of programme in general. Presently
this system is supporting a database of more than
Initiatives by the Centre for Good Governance are focussed on improving 6.5 million houses under construction in the state of
communications technology for the poor Andhra Pradesh in India.

[ 1 ]
 Section area

Online Grievance Redressel Tracking System Transparency and social audit

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme is a flagship programme to provide
support to the rural poor, who are usually unemployed
outside the agricultural season. This programme provides
100 days of assured employment every year to the wage
seeker in community-oriented works. A comprehensive
system is in place on a national website to show the
details of the beneficiaries, the money released, commu-
nity works on which the workers have been deployed,
and time taken in making payments etc. This has brought
enormous transparency to help millions of people in
India, who have registered for work under this scheme.
This is also supported by concurrent social audit, which
in turn improves the quality and reliability of services
offered. This also eliminates the role of middleman as
This type of system is being used in certain towns particularly in the state of technology has a direct interface with the people. In
Andhra Pradesh with a good degree of success a large number of cases the payments are also made
through mobile technology and hand held devices.
Source:
Community score cards and social accountability
Web-based system charting the conctruction of a house With the help of the World Bank Institute, CGG has
developed the Community Score Card as a tool for
social accountability. This was piloted in a few districts
in Andhra Pradesh. The community gives an assess-
ment on a quantified scale to record its experience of
the functioning of a public utility such as a hospital or
school. These scores given by the community can also
be compared and correlated with the official parameters
posted on a website giving statistics about the utility.

Grievance redressal, Right to Information and ICT

An important aspect of the interface of the common
citizen with government is the system for redressing
grievances. An easy access with a reliable means of
response to the citizen in case of a grievance can signifi-
cantly improve government to citizen relations. Most of
the government offices in India have to deal with a large
The impact of this e-governance initiative is that there is a very high degree of number of petitions, complaints and applications and it
transparency and accountability of government functionaries towards the poor for becomes difficult to track and monitor the grievances,
whom the subsidy is given resulting in delays and dissatisfaction.
An Online Grievance Redressal Tracking System has been
Source: developed by CGG to provide a comprehensive solution.
This offers a multiple choice to the citizens in selecting a
mode of communication with a public office. A citizen can
Improving social accountability in welfare programmes for students choose to register a complaint by making a call to the call
Central and state governments in India support poor students by centre or send a fax or SMS or a written complaint which
providing scholarships and fee reimbursement. Generally, these can be systematically classified, tracked and acted upon by
processes have been associated with complaints about processing various layers of bureaucracy. The system provides for auto-
delays. CGG has created a system known as E-pass, where students matic mobile phone alerts to the senior officers in case their
can register online and the money is sent direct to their bank subordinate staff fails to solve the problem. Such a system is
accounts after verification and processing. Presently 2.5 million being used in certain towns particularly in Andhra Pradesh
students are making use of this facility in the state of Andhra with a good degree of success.
Pradesh and it has substantially reduced processing time and elim- There has been a paradigm shift in public administration
inated scope for irregularities. Another aspect of reinforcing this in India with the introduction of the Right to Information
e-governance initiative with tools for community empowerment is Act 2005. This has completely changed the notion of
by introducing a social audit of the implementation of such schemes. record management from that of privacy to transparency.
Students and parents are involved in scrutinizing records to verify This path-breaking piece of legislation has enabled millions
recipients’ genuineness and pinpoint delays. of people to hold civil servants accountable. Although the

[ 2 ]
 Section area

Image: source
Student’s Health Information Tracking System

Simple software is used on the mobile phones of the school authorities and a
website is used to store and process the relevant information

Source: A call centre for Grievance Redressal in a municipality

e-government solutions to manage the Right to Information Act are still to monitor their health status. The schools which are
in a stage of development and need further stabilization, the setting up located in far flung areas send daily status report to a
of call centres in the state of Bihar is noteworthy. A citizen can simply centralized office giving the status of the general health
mention over the phone the information that s/he needs. This request of children including cases requiring immediate medical
for information is sorted and sent to the concerned department which treatment. A simple application using templates to
follows a time bound schedule to provide the information. In certain furnish these basic details is used on the mobile phones
other states basic management information systems are being developed of the school authorities and a website is used to store
to help the regulatory authorities in tracking the progress of pending and process the relevant information.
applications to seek information. Mobile technology is also being used,
and a person can track the progress of his case by sending an SMS and Common Service Centres
obtain the information about the status of his request in a system devel- The provision of common citizen service centres is an
oped by CGG for the state of Andhra Pradesh. important component of the national e-government
plan. These centres provide convergence through
Mobile phones for improving service delivery a single window and enable citizens to approach
Use of mobile phones has improved the ease of using technology government for a multiple array of services. These
to improve the citizen-government interface even in the remote centres tend to remove the human interface at the
areas where large numbers of poor people live. Mobile connectivity cutting edge thereby reducing the scope for delays
is increasingly helping the people in accessing government serv- and malpractices.
ices. Emergency response system to provide rescue and relief are These centres have started coming up even in rural
usually based on mobile technologies with a centralized control areas and the poor can easily access government serv-
system. Many states in India have started emergency services such ices through them on payment of nominal fees instead
as ambulances using the latest GIS-based technologies to provide of travelling to distant government offices.
immediate help to poor people in case of emergency. The Emergency There is a great scope for innovation in using ICT
Management Research Institute of Hyderabad is one such example. in a way that improves transparency and accountabil-
Similarly, telemedicine is also being introduced using ICT. ity of government to the people. The initial results are
encouraging and hold a lot of promise for transform-
Monitoring health status of poor children in remote schools ing the way in which governments would deal with the
An interesting pilot scheme has been started by CGG in the residential citizens by using ICT in an inclusive manner to help the
schools for poor children from disadvantaged sections of the society poor and the vulnerable.

[ 3 ]