An Introduction to Public Administration, An Oultine

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An Introduction to Public Administration

1. Define Public Administration and discuss its scope.

Public Administration has various definitions, and the most important definitions are:

Traditional Viewpoints (functions and actions)

o ' Public Administration is a detailed and systematic application of law. ', (Prof. Woodrow Wilson)

o ' Public Administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfillment of public policy as declared by authority. ', (L. D. White)

Broad View

o ' By Public Administration is meant the activities of the executive branches of the national, state, & local governments. ', (Simon)

o ' Public Administration in broadest sense denotes the work involved in the actual conduct of governmental affairs, and in narrowest senses denotes the operations of the administrative branch only. ', (Willough)

o ' Public Administration is that part of the science of administration which has to do with government and thus, concerns itself primarily with the executive branch where the work of the government is done. ', (Gullick)

o ' Public Administration is the art and science of management as applied to the affairs of the state. ', (Waldo)

o ' Administration is concerned with ‘what’ and ‘How’ of the government. The what is the subjectmatter, the technical knowledge of a field which enables the administrator to perform his tasks. The ‘How’ is the technique of management according to which co-operative programmes are carried to success. ', (Marshall E. Dimock)

There are various perspectives about the scope of Public Administration, I will mention the most important three perspectives here briefly:

1. Narrow perspective or posdcord perspective. (concerned only with those aspects related wit...

... middle of paper ...

...ocial welfare, food, agriculture, health, sanitation, transport, communication etc. are run by the department of Public Administration. Hence, Public Administration is a great stabilizing force in society. It is a preserver of the society and its culture.

2) POSBCORB represents an abbreviation of the seven types of functions which shows the scope of Public Administration. The seven types of functions are:

1. ‘P’ stands for planning

2. ‘O’ stands for organization

3. ‘S’ stands for staffing.

4. ‘D’ stands for Directing.

5. ‘Co.’ stands for Co-ordination.

6. ‘R’ stands for Reporting

7. ‘B’ stands for Budgeting

3) POSDCORB Perspective about the Scope of Public Administration is limited and narrow. It stressed on the tools of Public Administration. It does not show the substance of administration. It is a technique oriented perspective, not a subject oriented.

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