Public administration aims to understand how government can effectively achieve its proper functions. It studies the activities in public agencies and how they work to implement policies affecting society. The discipline has existed for centuries but was formalized in the late 19th century. Early thinkers aimed to make administration more competent by separating it from politics, applying business principles. Later, the field recognized the political nature of administration and sought to balance efficiency with other goals like accountability. It now sees its role as understanding and strengthening government institutions to better govern.

1. STUDYING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
An Overview of the Discipline
It is the object of administrative study to discover
first, what goverment can properly and successfully do
and secondly, how it can do these proper things with
utmost possible efficiency and at the least possible cost
either of money or of energy.

2. THE STUDY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Goverment and public agecies essentially „manage‟
the affairs of the state and implement a wide variety of
policies that affect virtually everyone in society.
The practice involves the work 19 million people who
are employed in goverment agencies at the federal, state,
and local levels.
 The academic discipline involves studying the activities
that take place in public agencies, mainly by proffessors
and other researchers.
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3. Public administration is a multidisciplinary field that
involves other academic areas, including political
science and management.
The study of public administration is concerned with
understanding the complexities of public agencies. Also
this include, how they function, what they do, why they
do it.

4. THE DISCIPLINE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Public administration‟ s history has existed many
centuries but the discipline of public administration
is not that old. “The study of administration” which
was published in 1887. The discipline, born in
political science, may be thought of as an “unwanted
child”.

5. CLASSICAL PERIOD
THE POLITICS-ADMINISTRATION DICHOTOMY
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The idea of bringing competence to govermental
administration.
Politics can be seperated from administration.
The techniques of business administration are applicable
to public organization.
Wilson‟ s essay, “The study of Administration,” reflected
the basic philosophy held by public administration during
the classical period. His artichle suggested that there was a
distinction between political funcition and administration
agencies.

6. Partisan politics was blamed for many of the problem during
this era, so writers would want to seperate politics from
administration.
Wilson and many reformer want to bring competence to
goverment eventhough other reformers want to limit the power
of political parties.
The public –private dichotomy: Believed that public and
private management were similar.

7. Influenced partly by other developments of the era, namely
Frederick Toylar‟ s “scientific management.”
To Frederick Toylar, poltics should not be mixed with
management.
The purpose of Elton Mayo was to examine the relationship
between workers, work environment and productivity. Also
during this time period Max Weber defined the bureaucratic
form of organization.
POSDCORB the principles greatly affected the discipline
and continue to be discussed in public administration textbooks
today.

8. BEHAVIORIST PERIOD
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AS POLITICAL
SCIENCE AND
AS MANAGEMENT
Concern is aimed at organisation and structure to make
better organization.
 Public administration returns to political science, still as
the unwanted child.
 One division of public administration focuses on management
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Behaviorist sough to modify the hierarchical structure and
appeal to a broad range of human needs to more effectively
motivate workers in the organisation.
Believes that public and private management are similar.

9. To the behaviorist, the central questions revolved around
understanding and explaning the reliaties of the organization
and life inside the organization.
For public administration, new hope emerged with the
promising new subfield of comparative and developmental
administration. Like comparative politcs, comparative
administration focused on administration in other countries.
During this same era, roughly 1956 until 1970, another
group focused on “public administration as management”.

10. NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Its goal is to use the power of the bureaucracy to remedy
many of society‟ s ills and injustices.
The new public administration was very moral and eager
to bring about change. It sought to use public agencies to
advance the needs of clienteles and to use the power of the
bureaucrarcy to remedy the social problems of the times.
Cost-benefit analyses, efficiency, and organizational design
were not the tools of the new public administration.

11. Peter Drucker, famous for management by objectives
earlier, wrote a book, “The Age of Discontinuity”, that would
challange goverment to govern and let the private sector
produce society‟s goods and service.
Politics-administration dichotomy: Believes that
administration cannot and should not be seperated from
Politics.

12. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AS PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
AND THE REFOUNDING PERIOD
Public administration moves into a new age and sees itself
as “public administration”.
 Many MPA programs leave political science departments or
are created in areas outside of political science.
 Efficiency must be balaced with other competing goals, such
as public accountability and equity.
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Public administration tends to accepts the institutions that
have emerged to govern and seek to make them more efficient
and effective.

13. Moreover, the goals of public administration are to acquire
knowledge, train future administrators, and create strong,
stable, and effective organizations to help govern society.
Public-private dichotomy: Holds that public and private
Sectors have differences but also similarities. Goverment can
Learn from the private sector.
Politics-administration dichotomy: Politics complicates
management but cannot be seperated from it.

14. Goverment was viewed as inefficient by design because it
was a monopoly. So privatization movement was launched.
At the end of the 1980, the term privatization was widely
known and recognized by public administration.
Privatization: Increasing the use of the private sector in
producing and delivering services.