MSG Team's other articles

9868 The Importance of Thought Leaders and Influencers in the Age of Social Media

Who are Thought Leaders and Why they are Important? We often hear the terms, Thought Leaders and Influencers, being bandied about in the media and among business circles. When people talk about them, it is usually with a tone of respect and awe and admiration. This is more of the case with those who are […]

12806 Communication Skills and Personality Development

Personality refers to an individual’s characteristics, style, behavior, mindset, attitude, his own unique way of perceiving things and seeing the world. Genetic factors, family backgrounds, varied cultures, environment, current situations play an imperative role in shaping one’s personality. The way you behave with others reflects your personality. An individual with a pleasing personality is appreciated […]

11157 Role of Personality Development in Reducing Stress and Conflicts

The process of enhancing one’s personality refers to personality development. An impressive personality helps an individual to make a mark of his/her own and also stand apart from the crowd. Personality development plays an essential role in reducing stress and conflicts not only at the workplace but also at homes and our personal lives. Personality […]

11567 Tips for Conducting Interviews

Whether it is a job interview or a follow-up interview with selected respondents who filled a survey questionnaire, it is essential that right questions are asked. However, asking a right question is just not it… There is more to conducting effective interviews. Read on to know how an interview conversation can be made effective… Avoid […]

12708 Change is the only Constant in the 21st Century

The business landscape of the 21st century is characterized by ever changing trends and events that happen with so much rapidity that they take most business leaders by surprise. Considering the high turnover of ideas and fads, it is no wonder that companies’ and their offerings in terms of products and services fail to click […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Public administration is like any other administration which is carried out in public interest. Before we dwell deeper into understanding public administration it would be beneficial to try and see how different authors have tried to define what administration is.

Marx defines administration as - Administration is determined action taken in pursuit of a conscious purpose. It is the systematic ordering of affairs and the calculated use of resources aimed at making those happen which one wants to happen.

Frederic k Lane defines administration as organizing and maintaining human and fiscal resources to attain a group’s goals.

A complete definition for public administration however is difficult to arrive at due to the sheer number of tasks that fall under it.

Some academicians argue that all the government related work falls into this category while other choose to argue that only the executive aspect of government functioning comprises of public administration.

We can also see how different authors have defined public administration:

According to L D White, Public administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfillment or enforcement of public policy.

On the other hand as per Woodrow Wilson public administration is a detailed and systematic application of law.

One can also say that public administration is nothing but the policies, practices, rules and regulation etc, in action.

Now can public administration be divorced from social and political systems?; certainly NOT and therefore emerged another definition provided by F A Nigro who argues that public administration is essentially a cooperative group effort in public setting.

Secondly, it covers all the three branches of government machinery, the executive, the legislative and the judicial.

He further added that since public administration plays a crucial role in formulation of policies therefore it is a part of the political process as well (for e.g. Bills and Acts).

Negro also said that public administration is different from private administration in numerous ways and that it interacts with various private groups and individuals in providing services to the community.

Also, on the nature of public administration there have been two popular views, one being the Integral view and the other one is the Managerial view.

The Integral view is all encompassing and consists of sum total of all managerial, clerical, technical and manual activities and employees form all levels. This view was endorsed by L D White and Dimock. It may differ from one agency to another depending on their sphere of work.

On the other hand the Managerial view, as the name suggests says that the public administration involves only the managerial activities. This view was supported by Simon, Smithburg, Thompson and Luther Gulick.

After having said that; the word administration itself is highly contextual, and may vary in meaning and definition from one organization to another.

So if you want to understand it from the context and setting of an organization, it can be roughly explained that; the top leadership or the Board decides the vision, mission, short and long term goals and the business unit heads then draw out action plans and create or reform processes, allot responsibilities, direct planning, get people on board and start working towards achieving those set goals as per defined guidelines.

So, the Board can be the Government and the Business Unit Heads and their teams can be the public administrators who are the implementers and actually the people who run the show.

In the next section we shall make an effort to understand whether public and private administrations are similar, different or are there any overlaps between the two.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Comparative Public Administration

MSG Team

The Closed and Open Models of Public Administration

MSG Team

Classical Theory of Public Administration

MSG Team