Introduction to Public Administration

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

 

• The meaning, nature & scope of PA
• Structure of Ghanaian PA
• Comparing business & public admin

Definition, nature and scope of PA

Public Administration covers a very wide range of issues which makes it difficult to find a single worldwide accepted, definition for it. 

Dwight Waldo “no single, and authoritative definition of public administration is possible”.

This is due to its eclectic nature –

It has a broad scope and so debatable

The definitions are often skewed depending on who does it – sociologist, economist, psychologist, and political scientist.

To properly understand it therefore implies that one has to view it from different dimensions.

What is public? 

Something that is open
Communal
Unrestricted
Easy access
Berkley and Rouse in their book “The Craft of Public Administration” see public simply as the citizens of a given area i.e., the people of a town or country. 
Public in general terms refer to something that belongs to the people as a whole

 What is administration?

Administer originated from Latin word – ministiare meaning to serve
Administer means to look after or manage the affairs of people
‘

• The organization and direction of human and material resources to achieved desire ends.’ (Pfifner and Prethus – Public Administration)

• ‘Consist of systematic ordering of affair and the calculated use of resources aimed at making those things happen which we want to happen and simultaneously preventing developments that fail to square with our intentions.’ (Fritz Morstein Marx 1946)

There is technology of social relationship without which technology of physical sciences could not function. And that is administration.
The technology of ensuring harmonious combination of men and material resources to produce expected results is what we call administration.
 It is therefore a collective activity towards the realization of defined goal.
 A collective activity involving rational organization & mgmt of men & material.
This may occur at all levels ranging from social clubs, individual businesses levels, corporations, institutions like the university, the state etc.
Administration may therefore be private – club, companies, or public – state, regional, local government levels

• Administration generally refers to the day-to-day management of activities to achieve a goal. 
• Administration is to care for or to look after people, to manage affairs (E.N. Gladden). 
• Herbert Simeon et al, define administration in an opening sentence as ‘When two men cooperate to roll a stone that neither could have moved alone, the rudiments of administration have appeared’.

Thus administration was born when two people decided to take an action from one place to another.

This means that for any two people to take action for a fruitful aim, the following ingredient of administration must be in place.
-People - must be present and agree to take the action
-Action - A step must be taken regarding what to do.
-Interaction - The two must agree to relate and combine their efforts to take action.                      
Administration also refers to the activities of group of persons cooperating among goals.

The administrator is therefore concerned with a cooperative activity. They interact with others to accomplish tasks.
This is not to say that every activity that involves the interaction of people is administration.
Administration in itself is a process which involves human beings jointly engaged in working toward common goals. 
Administration therefore takes place in human society.
When ever an activity involves more than two people it becomes complex. 
 To be an expert in administration one should know the principles. 
This principles work in any form of administration.

What is Public Administration? 

It is the action part of government, the means  by which the purposes and goals of governments are achieved.
May be described as representing the executive arm of government
It is centrally concerned with the organization of government policies and programs as well as the behavior of officials (usually non-elected) formally responsible for their conduct
It houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work
As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal... is to advance management and policies so that government can function.“
"the management of public programs”
the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day"

Selected definitions of PA

• Grover (1998: 10) stated that public administration is the process by which resources are marshaled and then used to cope with the problems facing a political community;
   
• David (1986: 6) sees it as “the use of managerial, political and legal theories and processes to fulfill legislative, executive and judicial governmental mandates for the provision of regulatory and service functions for the society as a whole or for some segments of it”.
   
• Leonard (1955: 3), broadly defines it as “consisting of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfillment or enforcement of public policy”. 

• "Public Administration is detailed and systematic execution of public law. Every particular application of law is an act of administration" - L.D. White.
•  Public Administration is "the art and science of management applied to the affairs of the State" - D. Waldo.
   
• "By Public Administration is meant in common usage the activities of the executive branches of the National, State and Local Governments'' - H. Simon.
• It is a means by which the policy decisions made by the political decision makers are carried out.
• It is the action part of the government, the means by which the purposes and goals of the government are realized.

Click on the link below to Download the complete PowerPoint presentation on this topic.

Download Here

Thank you!