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Interview study book Handbook of Public Administration of W. Bartley Hildreth, Gerald J. Miller, Jack Rabin - ISBN: 9781351564427 (Study Notes)
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Subject: Public AdministrationCourse: Public Administration: An Introduction
Title of the Module: Public Administration: Meaning, Nature, Scope & Importance
Module Introduction:
The module introduces the student to the discipline of Public Administration. After
reading the module the reader will be able to understand the meaning of Public Administration
and its characteristics as a discipline. A comprehensive account of the scope and importance of
Public Administration both as a process and discipline has also been the part of this module.
The text of the module is organized to cover the brief description on the need and
evolution of the process and discipline of Public Administration. The meaning and definitions of
administration and Public Administration have also been presented in it. There is also a detailed
discussion on the nature, scope and importance of Public Administration in this module.
Key words:
Administration, public administration, public affairs, organization, management,
legislative, executive, judicial, public and private
Introduction:
The historical evidences indicate that every society sooner or later has felt the need for an
organized and well ordered system of life. Therefore, the society concerned has established a
suitable system and mechanism for the said purpose. Perhaps, this paved the way for the
emergence of public administration and hence this profession has an ancient origin. Therefore,
Administration as an activity is as old as Civilization itself. However, the system and mechanism
of public administration has changed with the evolution and growth of civilization or according
to the societal needs over a period of time. However, it is Woodrow Wilson‟s article “The Study
of Administration” published in 1887, which is considered as the beginning of this discipline as a
subject of study .
It is observed that despite the enormity of diversities of needs or political settings of the
people around the world, the public administration in democratic, complex and fast changing
modern society has become imperative for the sustenance, progress and quality of life of all
human beings. Further, the improvement of the operation of governmental administration is to be
,more than a matter of mere a chance, it must arise from the systematic study of public
administration (Millett: 1956). Therefore, the scientific study concerned with all those public
affairs which have not been considered as personal and private by the people of a particular
culture or society at a particular point of time and in definite political setting, is termed as the
discipline of public administration. Hence the study of Public Administration is inevitable.
Administration: Meaning
The public administration is one dimension of a more generic term „administration‟. The
English word „administer‟ is derived from the combination of two Latin words „ad‟ plus
„ministiare‟ which means to serve, to direct, to control, to govern, to run, to oversee, to manage
affairs. E N Gladden defined “to care for or to look after people, to manage affairs” and defined
as “determined action taken in pursuit of common purpose”. It is the management of affairs of an
organization, the functions of a political state in discharging its responsibilities, the body of
people who administer an organization (Collins English Dictionary: 2009). Pfiffner and
Presthees rightly defined it as “the organization and direction of human and material resources to
achieve desired ends.” The organisation generally means „combination of the necessary human
beings and physical resources in a systematic and effective co-relation to accomplish some
common desired objectives‟ and management refers to „the guidance and directions given to an
organisation to accomplish predetermined desired objective/goal‟.
Administration is the management or proper ordering in the collective activities of human
beings, and as most human activities are collective and cooperative, administration is a general
process discernible in every group activity. It is observed that “Where men live together, they
have to work together and where they work together, they have to be so put to their jobs and to
each other as to create a harmonious combination of men and material that is called
administration”. (A. R. Tyagi: 2001). It (administration) is a cooperative human effort towards
achieving some common goals. In simple words it is a cooperative activity undertaken jointly by
a group of people (two or more than two persons) for a common purpose and therefore goal
oriented one.
Dwight Waldo states: “Administration is a type of cooperative human effort that has
high degree of rationality”. It is “an endeavour to maximize one‟s goal or achievement by
rationally relating means to ends”. For example, for rolling a stone to a fixed place, persons are
, put to stone in such a relationship as to maximize their efforts in a certain given direction. This
arrangement of persons in relation to the stone, i. e., the job is called „organization‟ and the act of
arranging the relationship is called „management‟. These two factors, namely organization and
management, are special features of administration activity. Keith Henderson defined the
administration in this sense and defined it as: “Administration is the arrangement of men and
materials in the rational carrying out of purposes”.
The administration is a universal process and performed in every kind of organization,
i.e., public or private, business or charitable, sovereign or dependent established under diverse
institutional settings. The people, actions and interactions are the three components associated
with the term administration. In other words without these there cannot be any administration.
Administration: Definitions
The term „administration‟ is defined in number of ways:
E N Gladden states: “Administration is a long and slightly pompous word, but it
has a humble meaning, for it means to care for or to look after people, to manage affairs” and
defined it as “determined action taken in pursuit of conscious purpose”. Pfiffner elaborated it
further and defined the administration “as the organization and direction of human and material
resources to achieve desired ends”. Similarly, Nigro put it as: “Administration is the organization
and use of men and materials to accomplish a purpose”. George E Berkley also defined it in
almost a similar fashion. He states: “Administration is a process involving human beings jointly
engaged in working toward common goals”.
John A. Vieg has given an explicit definition and according to him “Administration is
determined action taken in pursuit of conscious purpose. It consists in the systematized ordering
of affairs and calculated use of resources, aimed at making those things happen which we want
to happen and simultaneously preventing development that fail to square with our intentions. It is
the marshalling of available labour and materials in order to gain that which is desired at the
lowest cost in energy, time and money”.
F. M Marx also states that “Administration is determined action taken in pursuit of
conscious purpose. It is the systematized ordering of affairs and calculated use of resources,
aimed at making those things happen which we want to happen and forestalling everything to the
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