Study unit 2:

Theories of Public
Administration
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 Unit Outcomes
After completing this study unit the student should be able to:
• Illustrate the major theories of public administration

• Assess the state of theory building in public administration

 Theories of Public Administration
 Theories are attempts to accurately describe and to successfully
predict relationships (in a discipline).

 Common theories used in Public Administration;

 Scientific Management theory

 The Classical theory

 The Bureaucratic theory

 Human relations theory
 The Behavioural Theory

 The Systems Theory

 Contingency Theory
 Scientific Management theory

 Drawn from Fredrick Taylor’s studies in management of

industry in U.S.A. toward the end of the nineteenth century.
 Fredrick Taylor is the father of Scientific Management
 Taylor advocated for the systematic adoption of the
methods of science to problems of management in order to
promote higher industrial efficiency.
 Best management is a true science, resting upon clearly fixed
laws, rules and principles.
 Taylor’s studies were in response to the early twentieth century
inefficiency and ad-hoc planning where workers were left entirely
to themselves.
 Purpose of Scientific Management principles was to;

 raise industrial productivity

 emphasise planning,

 Standardisation of work; and

 improving human effort at the level of the worker.

“one best scientific way of doing “

 The four principles of Scientific Management are:
a) Develop a science for each element of a man’s work which
replaces the old rule-of thumb method.
b) Scientifically select and then train, teach and develop the
workman, whereas in the past he chose his own and trained
himself as best as he could.

c) Heartily cooperate with other men so as to ensure that all the

work is being done in accordance with scientific principles.
d) There is almost an equal division of work and responsibility
between the management and the workman. The management
takes over all work for which it is better fitted than the workman,
while in the past, almost all of the work and the greater part of the
responsibility was thrown on the men.
 Philosophy of Scientific Management

 Taylor considered the philosophy of Scientific Management

much more important than mere mechanism. His major
contributions were:
a) Motion-and time study

b) Specialisation
c) Standardisation

d) Planning
e) Techniques

f) Slide rule and other work-saving implements

g) Work instructions

h) Work standards
i) Piece-rate wage systems

j) Product and implement classification systems

k) Modern cost systems

 Criticism of Scientific Management
 Scientific Management viewed man as a machine.

 The management thinkers charged that Taylor’s scientific management

was impersonal and under emphasised the human factor.
 According to Scientific Management, an employee is motivated by high
wages. This underestimates the meaning of human motivation.
Likewise, the assumption that an individual existed in isolation from his
social environment is erroneous.
 Herbert Simon and March described the Scientific Management as the
‘Physiological organisation theory.’ It completely neglects the psychological
aspects.
 The classical theory

 The classical theory also known as Administrative management

theory, Mechanical theory or the Structural theory.
 Focuses on formal organisation structure and the basic
management process.
 Most notable proponents of classical theory include Henri Fayol
 Henri Fayol: believed that there was a single ‘administrative
science’ whose principles were applicable not only to business
but also to government, religious and other organisations.
 Administration, according to Fayol comprises the following five
elements:
(i) Planning;
(ii) Organising;
(iii) Co-ordination;
(iv)Command;
(v) Control
 Fayol outlined fourteen principles of organisaiton as listed below:

1) Division of work: It belongs to the natural order, and it increases

efficiency.

2) Authority and Responsibility: The occupant of each position

should be given enough authority to carry out all the responsibilities
assigned to him.
3) Discipline: Discipline (obedience, application, energy, and
essential for the smooth running of business.
4) Unity of Command: For any action, an employee should have
only one boss

5) Unity of Direction: One head and one plan for each activity.

6) Scalar Chain: It stands for the chain of superiors ranging from

the topmost authority to the lowest rank in an organisaiton.
7) Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest: The
interest of one employee or group should not prevail over that of
total organisaiton.

8) Centralisation: The degree of initiative left to managers varies

depending upon top managers, subordinates and business
conditions.

9) Remuneration: The remuneration paid for services rendered

should be fair and afford satisfaction to both personnel and the firm.
10) Order: Right man in the right place – this is how Fayol defined order.

11) Equity: Justice tempered with kindness is called equity.

12) Stability of Tenure: Suitable conditions should be created to

minimize turnover of employees.

13) Initiative: Managers must sacrifice their vanity to inspire confidence

in the lower ranks so that all levels show initiative.

14) Esprit de Corps: it is the prevalence of harmony among all members

of the orgnaisation.
 Criticism:
 All organisations cannot be managed by the same set of rules and
principles.
 This theory is not well-suited to organisations where changes take
place often.
 It treats an organisation as a closed system, simply unconnected
with, and uninfluenced, by its external environment.
 It viewed human begins as passive
 The bureaucratic theory
 Max Weber contends that there are different forms of domination that
determine how authority is exercised.
 Domination refers to a power relationship between the rulers and the
ruled.
 Authority is used to exercise legitimate power over the ruled.

 In any kind of established authority, there exist a number of beliefs that

legitimise the exercise of power in the eyes of the leaders and the led.
 Weber identified the following types of domination;

(a)Charismatic Domination:
 Charisma literally means gift of grace, the power exercised, by a
leader – may be a prophet or a hero for example, – substantiating
the claim by virtue of his magical powers of heroism etc.
 Authority is often exercised over the most faithful followers or
disciples who play the role of the intermediary between the leader
and the followers.
(b) Traditional Domination:
 It derives its legitimacy from the acceptance of history.
 The persons exercising authority generally are called ‘Masters’ who enjoy
personal authority by virtue of their inherited status.
 Their commands carry legitimacy because of the customs.
 This kind of patrimonial authority receives ready obedience because of a
peculiar faith in traditional status and personal loyalty to the dominant person.
 The administrative apparatus in this kind of domination would consist of the
personal relations, servants and relatives.
(c) Legal Domination:
 It is based on the belief in the rightness of law.
 People obey the laws because they believe that these are enacted by a
proper objective procedure.
 The typical administrative apparatus corresponding to this kind of
domination is bureaucracy.
 It has rules that delineate in a rational way the hierarchy, the rights and
duties of every position and the methods of promotion, recruitment and
other conditions of service.
 Bureaucracy is a dominant form of organisaiton in the private
and public sectors.
 Bureaucracy refers to a specific form of social organisation for
administrative purposes.
 The most systematic study of bureaucracy is traced back to
German sociologist Max Weber.
 Weber argued that bureaucracy constitutes the most efficient
and rational way in which human activity can be organised and
that systematic processes and organised hierarchies are
necessary to maintain order, to maximise efficiency, and to
eliminate favoritism.
 In its ideal form, bureaucracy is impersonal and rational and
based on rules rather than ties of kinship, friendship, or
patrimonial or charismatic authority.
 The defining features of bureaucracy sharply distinguish it from
other types of organisation based on nonlegal forms of authority.
 Weber observed that the advantage of bureaucracy was that it
was the most technically proficient form of organisation,
possessing specialised expertise, certainty, continuity, and unity.
 To Weber, bureaucracy is “an administrative body of appointed
officials”, characterised by;
1. Hierarchical arrangement of offices or positions
2. The staff members are engaged in the discharge of only the
impersonal duties of their offices they are personally free.
3. Division of labour, with specified spheres of competence
legitimised as official duties and powers.
4. Written rules for carrying out assigned tasks, to be applied
uniformly.

5. Impersonality – officials are subject to an impersonal order and

formally established norms of conduct and act according to these
rules in their contacts with others, inside and outside the
organisation.
6. Officials are appointed on the basis of a contract
7. The functions of the offices are clearly specified.
8. Officials are selected on the basis professional qualifications,
ideally substantiated by a diploma gained through competitive
examination.

9. They have a money salary, and usually pension rights. The

salary is graded according to position in the hierarchy. The official
can always leave the post, and under certain circumstances it may
also be terminated.

10. The official’s post is his sole or major occupation.

11. There is a career structure, and promotion is possible either by
seniority or merit, and according to the judgement of
superiors.
12. The official may appropriate neither the post nor the resources
that go with it.

13. He is subject to a unified control and disciplinary system.

 Criticism of Weber’s Bureaucracy
 Rigidity
 Impersonality

 Ideal type not feasible

 Red tape

 Bureaupathology: managers try to protect their authority and positions

 HUMAN RELATIONS THEORY
 The basic assumption of this theory is that psychological and
social aspects of the worker as an individual and his work group
ought to be emphasised.
 The greatest influence of this theory came from the Hawthorne
experiments carried out in the U.S.A. under the guidance of
Elton Mayo in late 1920's and early 1930’s.
 In the first Hawthorne experiment, in a textile factory, workers
operating under a piece-rate system were observed, to see
whether higher wages motivated them to work more.
 In another experiment, some female workers were isolated from
the rest and placed under observation. Their level of productivity
under diverse working conditions were carefully measured.
 The Hawthorne experiments which were conducted between
1924-1932 proved that social or human relationships among the
workers were more important in determining productivity than
were changes in working conditions.
 The high morale of the 'test group’ workers appeared to be
responsible for the productive increases.
 A worker's feelings about himself and his work group were of
the utmost importance.
 Elements of the Theory:

(a) The Individual: This theory emphasises differences among

individuals. For them each worker is unique. Each worker brings to
the job situation certain attitudes, beliefs and way of life, as well as
certain skills, technical, social and logical. The emotions and
perceptions are recognised as important.
(b) Work Groups (Informal Organisations) : This theory focuses its
attention on the social aspects of man whose overriding need is seen as
desire to belong, to be accepted by, and stand well in his groups. Mayo
concluded that man's social situation in his work group ranked first and the
work was incidental.

(c) Participative Management: It means participation of the workers in

decision-making about their work conditions. Workers discuss with
supervisors and influence decisions that affect them. This participation
results in higher productivity.
 Contribution:

 It introduced the idea of the organisation as an open system.

 It emphasised the importance of employee attitudes.

 It revolutionised the management training.

 Mayo critically examined the employee employer relations,
stability of the labour, supervision, etc., of the industrial workers.
 THE BEHAVIOURAL THEORY
 Concerned with the scientific research that deals directly with human behavior.

 In Public Administration, it is the analysis of public administration from the

micro‐level perspective of individual behavior and attitudes on the behavior of

individuals and groups.

 Behavioural movement came into existence in the discipline of public

administration in the late 1930s and early 1940s along with the Human

Relations Movement.
 Both of these movements primarily deal with human element in

the organisation which was not given due importance previously

by the classical scholars.

 Human Relations has a bearing with the inter-personal

relationships of the organisational employees while

Behavioralism deals with the inside of human being having focus

on the place of his values and sense of rationality.

 Behaviouralists believed in the philosophy that understanding of inside of

the man is as important as inside of the organisation.

 A comprehensive understanding of organisational working is difficult

without an inside understanding of its employees.

 Maslow's theory of motivation/Hierarchy of needs has exerted strong

influence on studies of organisational behavior.

 This theory integrates insights from psychology and the behavioral

sciences into the study of public administration.

 Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory of motivation which
states that five categories of human needs dictate an individual's
behavior.
 Those needs are physiological needs, safety needs, love and
belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualisation needs
 Maslow wanted to understand what motivates people.
 He believed that people possess a set of motivation systems
unrelated to rewards or unconscious desires.
 Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs.

 When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, etc.
 Man is a perpetually wanting creature. When he satisfies one want,
others spring up to receive his attention. It is a never-ending process.
 Satisfied needs do not motivate. Only unsatisfied needs motivate.
 One must satisfy lower level basic needs before progressing on to
meet higher level growth needs.
 Once these needs have been reasonably satisfied, one may be able to
reach the highest level called self-actualisation.
 Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy
toward a level of self-actualisation.
 Public administrators, in the exercise of their profession, must navigate
these same needs within the constructs of their organisation in a variety
of ways -- from an individual perspective, a profession perspective of
ensuring the fulfillment of organisational goals, and assessing staff
needs, political influences, and constituent views.
 Physiological needs - a public administrator must keep his or
her organization functioning, ensuring that it has the appropriate
staff and financial resources to maintain its operation. Without
these basic needs, the organisation cannot function.
 Safety needs- is the assurance that an organisation exists in an
environment conducive to productivity. A public administrator
must work to guarantee an organisation's employees that they
are secure in their positions.
 Belongingness/ social needs - describes the ability of a public
administrator to promote the creativity and ingenuity of employees to
best help an organisation succeed and meet its goals and obligations.
It is important for a public administrator to strike a balance between
creative freedom and structure in an effort to produce an environment
that promotes unit cohesion.
 Esteem needs - an individual's opinion of oneself and how he or she
is perceived by peers. Professionals long for respect from their
colleagues and seek to take pride in their work.
 Self – actualisation - is the opportunity for public
administrators and employees to reflect on their work,
accomplishments, and the organisation. Performance
evaluations and staff meetings are the most pervasive examples
of actualisation within an organisation.
Limitations of Maslow’s Theory
 It is essential to note that not all employees are governed by same
set of needs. Different individuals may be driven by different needs
at same point of time. It is always the most powerful unsatisfied need
that motivates an individual.
 The theory is not empirically supported.
 The theory is not applicable in case of starving artist as even if the
artist’s basic needs are not satisfied, he will still strive for recognition
and achievement.
 The Systems Theory
 The origin of general systems theory is traced to the thinking of the
biologist Ludwig Von Bertalanffy.
 David Easton and Chester Barnard were the main proponents and
contributors to this theory in politics and administration.
 The theory considers the organisation as a system composed of a set of
inter-related - and thus mutually dependent - sub-systems.
 The theory views organisations as open social systems that must
interact with their environments in order to survive.
 The theory rejects the notion of the classical theory which believed
that an organisation is independent of the environment and society.
 It states that the organisation and environment work together and
have frequent exchanges in order to adjust and in the end there is
homoeostasis (stable state of equilibrium).
 The theory takes a holistic approach, that is, it takes into account and
studies all elements of an organisation like hierarchy and communications,
personnel, procedures, informal as well as formal organisations and the
interface between the organisation and the environment.
 It states that the organisation and the environment are interdependent and
should be analysed together and how they influence each other.
 According to David Easton, policy making and decision making adopt the
systems approach to analyse public policy making and implementation
process in a dynamic political system and the cycle that is involved in it.
 Inputs are given by society/environment to the policy makers as to what is needed to be done and that goes
into the ‘black box’ (as Easton calls it) where decision making processes take place and then evolves the
output in the form of administrative decisions and policies to be implemented. Implementation is analysed by
society and environment and again goes back as feedback into the political system.
Criticism of Systems Theory
 Systems left insufficient room for the ‘human factor,’ of real
people acting in ways not predicted by the system.
 Contingency Theory
 Class discussion ( 8 April 2021)

 All students to read and identify the follow;

 History of the theory

 Proponents of the theory

 Characteristics of the theory

 Weaknesses of the theory.

 Contingency Theory

 The contingency/situational theory claims that there is no best way

to organise an entity, to lead an organisation or to make decisions.
 Instead, the optimal course of action is contingent (dependent) upon
the internal and external situation.
 According to Wialliam Richard Scott, Contingency theory contends
that “ The best way to organize depends on the nature of the
environment to which the organization must relate and adjust to”
 Main ideas of Contingency theory.

 Organisations are open systems that need careful management to satisfy

and balance internal needs and to adapt to environmental circumstances.
 There is no one best way of organising. The appropriate form depends on
the kind of task or environment and situation one is dealing with.
 Public Administrators must be concerned above all else, with achieving
alignments and good fits.
 Different types or species of organisations are needed in different type of
organisations.
 Previous management theories and approaches assumed that their
principles or processes were universally applicable in managing
organisations.
 It was later discovered that the opposite is exactly the case. A small
organisation, for instance, will require a different approach compared to a
large and complex organisation.
 Popular contingency variables to consider when faced with different
situations are environmental uncertainty, organisation's size, routineness
of task technology and individual differences.
Study unit 3:
Contemporary
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Public Administration
 Unit Outcomes

 After completing this study unit youshould be able to:

 Analyse contemporary developments in the Public
Administration discipline
 Examine the ‘paradigm shift’ in the discipline
 Assess new approaches to public administration.