Public Administration Notes

NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF PUBLIC. ADMINISTRATION PROJECT1. TN the July issue of THE AMERICAN ARCHIVIST Mr. Trever has an extremely.

Introduction To Public Administration–MGT111 VU © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 1 LESSON 01 INTRODUCTION The course on Public Administration/Management has following objectives: 1. D'arte coffee. Understand the concept of public administration/ management/organization 2.

Understand the evolution of the concept of public administration and its importance 3. Understand the role of government 4. Understand the role and core functions of public manager 5.

Understand the structure of government /organizations 6. Create understanding about the skills required by the public manager in imparting duties 7. Understand the changing role of government and role of public managers. Importance of Course: The course on public administration/management is important as every citizen must understand the functioning of government.

Besides, whether one works in private or public organization, or one is doing ones own business or whatever the profession, this course is useful as it helps understand organizations and their functioning. It also helps us understand the environment in which we are working. Introduction: definitions, concepts & setting At the end of lecture the students should be able to understanding: • The meaning of PA • The practice of public administration (PA) • Public administration as a subject of study • Definition of Public administration • Public administration, democracy and rights of citizens The Meaning The word ‘administration’ has been derived from Latin words ‘ad’ = to and ‘ministiare’ = serve and ‘Public’ =people or citizens Thus the word administration means to execute the policy of government to serve public.

Management is also defined as Cooperative human endeavour to achieve given goals. Traditionally management is also defined as Management = POSDCORB which stands for Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordination, Reporting, Budgeting. In general administration and management are used interchangeably. Public Administration A public administration as a practice is as old as the human civilization. When human beings started living in society in an organized way they started the practice of administration, because they started to live cooperatively in society. It is said that when a man tried to left a stone and was unable to do so alone and was helped by another man, the practice of ‘management/administration began.

Egyptian Pyramids (1491 BC) You must have seen Egyptian pyramids and must have thought how such huge structure was built. The construction of Egyptian pyramids in 1491 is an example of practice of administration, as it involved cooperative effort of thousands of people. Mohenjodaro and Harrapa In Pakistan Mohenjodaro and Harrapa civilizations are a magnificent example of practice of administration. The two cities had well planned roads, granary, wells and walls around the city to protect it. Such planning of city shows that the rulers managed the city well. Introduction To Public Administration–MGT111 VU © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 2 So we can say that public administration as a practice is old as civilization But Public Administration as a discipline to be taught in formal educational institution, started after World War I (1914), in USA and then in Europe. The emergence of public administration as discipline in USA and Europe was due to the changing role of government.

The Great Depression in USA and Europe brought large scale unemployment and low wages, and falling demand for goods. It was felt that in these circumstances the government should invest to provide jobs. Thus, the role of government was seen as prime mover in economy. Why Public Administration Received Impetus as A Subject? Following were the reasons for the emergence of public administration as a subject:- 1. Expanding welfare role (distributive) of the government 2.

The emergence of private sector and regulatory role, of government 3. The need for increased efficiency in the Organization 4. Development of Science and Technology 5. Better management of public matters through training in USA Definition of Public Administration Now we will look at various definitions of public administration to better comprehend the concept: “Public administration.

Is the action part of government, the means by which the purposes and goals of government are realized”. ‘Public administration as a field is mainly concerned with the means for implementing political values” “The process of public administration consists of the actions involved in effecting the intent or desire of a government. It is thus the continuously active, ‘business’ part of government, concerned with carrying out the law, as made by legislative bodies (or other authoritative agents) and interpreted by the courts, through the processes of organization and management.” It is a cooperative group effort in a public setting; It covers all the three branches --- executive, legislative, and judicial -- and their interrelationships; All these definitions explain us different dimension of the subjects. These definitions might confuse us and we might say that there is really no such subject as “public administration,” but rather that public administration means different things to different observers and lacks a significant common theoretical or applied meaning, or we might say that public administration is everywhere:- But two things definitely emerge from the above definition. These are:- 1. The study of public administration overlaps a number of other disciplines, including political science, sociology, economics, psychology, and business administration. Public administration is the use of managerial, political, and legal theories and processes to fulfill the goals of government (welfare of public).