Evolution OF Public Administration

EVOLUTION
OF
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
1.1 WHAT IS PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION?
• It is the management of public affairs and programs;
• The implementation of public policies;
• What Government does in managing the public interests,
( goods and services);
• It is the execution of public law;
• It is also government regulation on citizens, businesses,
schools, hospitals etc.
DEFINITIONS FROM THE LITERATURE
L.D White: “PA is detailed and systematic execution of public law , b/s every
particular application of law is an act of administration”
• PA consists of all those operations which have the purpose of fulfillment or
enforcement of public policy as declared by the competent authority.
• D. Waldo: “PA is the art and science of management, applied to the affairs
of the State”
• H. Simon: “ PA is meant the common usage of the activities of the
executive branches of the National, State and Local Governments”
1.2 EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
• The art of administration connotes the direction, co-ordination and control of man,
material and resources to achieve some purposes or objectives.
• It was born in 1887 as a discipline, not as an activity because as an activity public
administration is as old as human existence itself.
• As a discipline it studies and analyses the machinery and procedure of government
while formulating and implementing policies.
• and that analysis/study gives birth to new ideas, which are then applied to the
activity of government to test the practicality as to whether it increases efficiency.
1.3 STAGES OF
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• There are five stages in the chronology of the evolution of Public
Administration as a discipline:
• Stage 1: politics administration dichotomy (1887-1926)
• Stage 2: principles of administration (1927-1937)
• Stage 3: era of challenge (1938-1947)
• Stage 4: crises of identity (1948-1970)
• Stage 5: public policy perspective (1971 onwards)
PHASE 1 - POLITICS ADMINISTRATION
DICHOTOMY (1887-1926)
• The first stage was the manifestation of

Woodrow Wilson's view of politics -
administration dichotomy (difference
between two things as they are completely
opposite).
• This led to a spurt in the interest of its studies
in various American as well as universities
around the globe and reforms were made in
government and thus scholars were attracted
to public administration with a new vigor.
PHASE 11
PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATION (1927-1937)
• During this phase, scholars believed that Public administration is

a separate activity with its own well marked field and principles.
In 1927,W. F. Willoughby‘s book „Principles of Public
Administration‟ was published in which he asserted that ―in
administration there are certain fundamental principles of general
application analogous to those characterizing any science.‖ They
could be discovered and administrators would be expert in their
work if they learned how to apply these principles.
 Further, they propounded the famous concept of P O S D C O R B

– final expression of these principles. Resultantly, Public
Administration touched its zenith and this phase is regarded as
a golden era in the evolution of the discipline.
PHASE III: CRITICISM AND CHALLENGES
(1937-1950)
• In the very next year (1938), the

mainstream Public Administration
was challenged with the
publication of Chester I. Barnard‘s
„The Functions of the Executive‟.
The challenge came basically in
two forms: first, rejection of the
idea of politics administration
dichotomy and second, principles
of public administration lacking in
scientific validity.
HAWTHRONE ERA / HR PERIOD
• The Human relations theory brought about a pragmatic view to administrative

issues.
• It emphasised on the human aspects of administration that sprung from the
Hawthorne experiments conducted by Elton Mayo and his colleagues at
Harvard Business School in the late 20's and early 30's of the twentieth century.
• The main focus of study in this approach was to study the psychological and
social problems of the industrial workers.
• identified variables like informal organisation, leadership, morale and
motivation for maximum use of human resources in industries.
ELTON MAYO – FATHER OF HR
PHASE IV - CRISIS OF IDENTITY
1948 - 1970
 The discipline was in quandary and suffered from the crisis of identity
due to the abandonment of politics- administration dichotomy and
the principles of public administration.
 So the scholars of public administration reacted to this crisis by
reestablishing the linkages of Public Administration first with Political
Science and then with the Management.
 Reinvent public administration ?
 New Public Administration' courtesy Dwight Waldo from the First
Minnowbrook Conference in 1968 and 2nd MBW – 1988
 It laid stress on values in public administration, welfare ,democratic humanism
TOWARDS A NPA – MINNOW BROOKE
PERSPECTIVE- MBW 1, 2 AND 3
• Frank Marini + Dwight Waldo – Value oriented , Goal

Oriented and Change oriented
DWIGHT WALDO
NPM- NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT-
CITIZEN VS. CUSTOMER

ORIENTATION:
• The New Public Management (NPM) has brought in

reforms in many ways. Market philosophy cannot be an
adequate substitute for the public interest which is the core
of the governmental operations.
• It reforms mainly focus on privatization, marketization,
contracting out, debureaucratisation
STAGE 5: PUBLIC POLICY PERSPECTIVE (1971
ONWARDS)
• However, even when the discipline of Public Administration was at its lowest ebb, it was
sowing the seeds of its own renaissance. Couple of factors, complimentary to each other,
contributed in this process.
• The first was the development of interdisciplinary programs focusing upon policy science.
• In this regard three distinct intertheoretical linkages –
• a) politics-administration union,
• b) Economics-administration confluence, and
• c) organization theory-administration intermixing -- can be identified.
Landmarks OF New Administration:
 The second was the emergence of New Public Administration (NPA) – an outcome of
First Minnowbrook Conference held in 1968 sponsored by Dwight Waldo -- which
put more emphasis on values replacing the traditional goals of efficiency and
effectiveness followed by :
 Second Minnowbrook Conference – 1988 and (LPG focus / rise of NPM)
 Third Minnowbrook Conference – 2008 (American economy downfall , rise of Global
terrorism )- 3E’s =ECONOMY , EFFICIENCY , EFFECTIVENESS
1. The overall focus of NPA movement was to make administration less generic and more public,
less descriptive and more prescriptive, less institution- oriented and more client-oriented, less
neutral and more normative, but it should be no less scientific all the time.
2. Development Administration -popularized by Riggs, Weidner, Landau, and Gant; emerged as a field
of study focused on the development of third world countries.
3. The New Public Management (NPM) approach to governance, a normative conceptualization of
public administration has emerged.
The public administration and governance has witnessed many challenges and
changes after Minnowbrook II. The notable among those are:
1. The New Public Management (NPM) approach to governance, a normative

conceptualization of public administration has emerged.
2. The publication of Reinventing Government by Osborne and Gaebler (1992) –

redefined the functions of the Government and favoured an “Entrepreneurial
Government” for bringing radical changes with the focus on de-bureaucratization,
democratization, and decentralization of the administrative processes in the interest
of the citizens.
3. The process of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalized has made the Public
Administration as „Enabler‟ or „Facilitator‟.
From Government to Governance, 1990
• Etymologically, can be traced back to the
Greek verb “kubernan” (to pilot or steer) and was used by Plato to design a system or
rule.
• World bank (2000) defines Governance is the institutional capacity of public
organizations to provide the public and other goods demanded by a country’s citizens or
their representatives in an effective, impartial, and accountable manner subject to
resource constraints
• Why GOVERNANCE and not merely GOVERNMENT? GOVERNANCE is broader

and more fundamental concept than that of government alone
• The problem of modern governance is not much on the insufficiency of instruments
relative to the changing objectives but rather the degree of
incompatibility between objectives
THANK YOU

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EVOLUTION

• The first stage was the manifestation of

• During this phase, scholars believed that Public administration is

 Further, they propounded the famous concept of P O S D C O R B

• In the very next year (1938), the

• The Human relations theory brought about a pragmatic view to administrative

• Frank Marini + Dwight Waldo – Value oriented , Goal

CITIZEN VS. CUSTOMER

• The New Public Management (NPM) has brought in

1. The New Public Management (NPM) approach to governance, a normative

2. The publication of Reinventing Government by Osborne and Gaebler (1992) –

• Etymologically, can be traced back to the

• Why GOVERNANCE and not merely GOVERNMENT? GOVERNANCE is broader

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