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5, , PUBLICADMINISTRATION : ITS GROWTY, AND DEVELOPMENT, , The term ‘Public Administration’ stands for two implications. First, i, refers to the activity of administering the affairs of government, like enforcement, of law and order. Second, it refers to a field of study, like that of political science,, history, sociology, and so on. Public Administration as a discipline is not a very, old one. In fact, it was born in 1887 when Widrow Wilson’s articles entitled, The Study of Administration was published in Political Science Quarterly. It may,, thus, be regarded as among the newest of the social sciences., , However, Public Administration, as a practice, is as old as our civilisation,, From the earliest times our monarchial system used Public Administration in, executing government functions. Both Sumerians and Egyptians demonstrated, their administrative skills in the construction of pyramids. The history of Indian, administrative systems begins from Vedic period. The book written in the fourth, century B. C., Kautilya’s Arthashasira is the oldest text on Public Administration,, The Ramayana and Mahabharata and the maxims and teaching of Confucious’, thought contain many profound observations about the organization and working, of governmental system. Aristotle’s Politics in ancient west and Machiaveli’s, The Prince in medieval west contain significant observations about the organization, , and functioning of government., , The systematic study of Public Administration began in the 18th century., Official academic status to the discipline did not come until World War I. Modern, Public Administration was first taught as a part of the training course of public, officials on probation in Prussia. The subject was largely complied and thought, in a descriptive manner by professors of cameral sciences, which then included, all knolwedge considered necessary for the management of governmental affairs., The comeralists showed interest in the study of Public Administration. They, stressed the descriptive studies of structures, principles and procedures of public, administration. George Zincke was the most distinguished scholar of the, comeralist group., , Towards the end of 18th century the movement for governmental reform, , thered momentum especially in the United States of America where intellectual |, efforts were systematically expanded for the gradual development of an exclusive
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Public Administration : Its Growth ang Development 45, , body of knowledge on the structure and functioning of public an, , oat sata this background of the reform movement that the ieee ‘, of Public Administration was born in the U.S. A. The meaning ar 2 7, Public Administration was defined i the first time in Hamilton’s The iio., (No. 72). Charles Jean Bounin S principles de Administration Public ‘i, (Principle of Public Administration) (1812) in French is Gliders os ee igue, separate treatise on the subject of Public Administration. But the systematic t dy, of Public Administration reached on its zenith when Viven blish d hi stu y, in 1859 with the title Administration Studies (two volumes) ed his worl, , However, Public Administration as a se, and developed in the U.S.A. The scientific management movement advocated by, F. W. Taylor, the 19th century industrialisation which gave rise to large scale, organizations, the emergence of the concept of welfare state and the movement, , for government reform due to negative consequences of spoils-system hav:, , : : ‘, contributed to the growth of public administration, y, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Parate subject of study originated, , Yet Public Administration has passed through several phases of development., One can broadly divide the history of Public Administration into the following, six periods :, , 1. First Stage: Politics-Administration Dichotomy 1887-1926,, , 2. Second Stage : Principles of Administration 1927-1937., , 3. Third Stage : Era of Challenge 1938-1947,, , 4. Fourth Stage : Crisis of Identity 1948-1970., , 5. Fifth Stage : Public Policy Perspective 1971-1990,, , 6. Sixth Stage : Rowing to Steering 1991-continuing., , Period I : 1887-1926—Politics-Administrative Dichotomy, , Public Administration as a discipline was born in the United States, and that, country continues to enrich it even today. Woodrow Wilson, who was teaching, political science at the Princeton University, and who later became the President, of U.S.A., is regarded as the father of the discipline of Public Administration., In an article entitled, The Study of Administration, published in 1887, Wilson, emphasized the need for a separate study of Public Administration. He made a, distinction between politics and administration, and argued : “It is getting to be, harder to run a constitution than to frame one.”! Wilson’s name is associated, with nwo notable features. He is regarded as the founder of the discipline of Public, Administration. Secondly, he is the originator of politics-administration dichotomy, which came to dominate the scene for quite some time., , No notable event took place until 1900 when Frank J. Goodnow published, his Politics and Administration. In it Goodnow developed the Wilsonian theme, further and with greater courage and conviction. He argued that Politics and, Administration were two distinct functions of a government. According to him,, Politics “has to do with policies or expressions of the state will” while, administration “has to do with the execution of these policies.”? In sho, Goodnow posited the politics-administration dichotomy., a, , ! am Dwight (Ed.) : /deas and Issues in Public Administration, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1953,, D. 67, , 2 Goodnow, Frank J. : Politics and Admin
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46 Public Administration, , In the carly part of the twentieth century ma ' iversities began, to take active interest in the reform reoverhent coe ‘and thee scholars, got attracted to the field of public administration, In 1914, the American Political, Science Association published a report which delineated the objectives of the, teaching of Political Science. One of the objectives proclaimed was to “prepare, specialists for governmental positions.” Thus, Public Administration was recognized as an important sub-area of Political Science. The subject (i.e., Public, Administration) began to gain increasing recognition in the American universities, and its study was steadily spreading., , In 1926, appeared the first text book on the subject. This was Leonard D., White's Introduction to the Study of Public Administration. This book faithfully, reflects the dominant theme of the contemporary period ; its premises are that, politics and administration are to be kept separate ; and efficiency and economy, are the watchwords of public administration., , It may, thus, be seen that the dominant feature of the first period was a, passionate belief in politics-administration dichotomy. That this dichotomy is in, practice invalid did not bother the thinkers of this period., , Period HI : 1927-1937—Principles of Administration, , The Second Period in the history of Public Administration has as its central, theme the Principles of Administration. The central belief of this period was that, there are certain ‘principles’ of administration, and it is the task of the scholars, to discover them and to promote their application., , This period opened with the publication of W. F. Willoughby’s Principles, of Public Administration (1927). The title of the book is very suggestive, and, indicates, very correctly, the new thrust of the discipline. This period saw the, publication of a number of works, the more important among them being Mary, Parker Follett’s Creative Experience, Henri Fayol’s Industrial and General, Management, Mooney and Reiley’s Principles of Organisation. This period, reached its climax in 1937 when Luther H. Gulick and Lyndall Urwick’s Papers, on the Science of Administration appeared. The use of the word ‘science’ is, , significant, for Gulick and Urwick implied that Administration was science., Urwick observed :, , “It is the general thesis of this paper that there are principles which, can be arrived at inductively from the study of human organization which, should govern arrangements for human association of any kind. These, principles can be studied as a technical question, irrespective of the purpose, , of the enterprise, the personnel, comprising it, or any constitutional, political, or social theory underlying its creation.”!, , What are these principles ? Gulick and Urwick coined that acronym—, , : . ye, POSDCORB—1o promote seven principles of administration. In short, the years, ty were the ‘golden years of principles and techniques? in the history, of Public Administration. This was also a period when Public Administration, , commanded a high degree of respectability and its prod i, eh is Gethennet col ee 'y and its produc.s were in great demand, ee, , 1 Gulick, Luther and Urwick, L. (Edited) ;, , ‘ . Papers on the ork,, Institute of Public Administration, 1937, p. 19 alone of Acantasention: ee. 7, , p. 19
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Public Administration : Its Growth and Development 47, eriod TIT : 1938-1947—The Era of Challenge, , Pe, , The advocates of the principles of administration began soon to be, challenged. and the period from 1938 to 1947 was, indeed, one of continuous, and mounting challenge and questioning. In 1938, Chester I, Barnard’s The, Functions of the Executive was published. The book discusses the broader issues, of administration ‘such as formal and informal functions, functional overlay,, organisational environment, equilibrium among organisational units and induce., ment contributions. Chester Barnard does not in the least uphold the stand taken, by the writers of the second period like Willoughby, Gulick, Urwick etc., , Herbert A. Simon wrote an article entitled, ‘The Proverbs of Administration’ in 1946, and its argument was further developed in his Administrative, Behaviour : A Study of Decision-making Process in Administrative Organisation, which was published in 1947 and on which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in, the year 1978. The principal thesis of Simon is that there is no such thing as, principles of administration ; what are paraded as ‘principles’ are in truth no better, than proverbs. Herbert Simon developed a rationalistic theory of administration, alongwith ‘bounded rationality’. The claim that Public Administration is a science, was challenged by Robert Dahl in 1947, and he argued that the quest for, principles of administration was obstructed by three factors. These were values, permeating administration while science is value-free. Besides, human personalities differ and so do the social frameworks within which organizations have, inevitably to operate. As a result of these criticisms, Public Administration found, itself in a deflated position, and the morale of the discipline was low. It was on, this note that Public Administration entered the fourth phase in its history., , Period IV : 1948-1970—Crisis of Identity, , This period has been one of crisis for Public Administration. The brave new, world promised by the thinkers of the ‘principles’ era stood shattered and the, future of the discipline appeared to be a little uncertain. Public Administration, was facing a Crisis of Identity., , Many public administrations responded to this crisis of identity by returning, to the fold of the mother science, namely, Political Science. But they discovered, that they were not very much welcome to the home of their youth. Many political, Scientists began to argue that the true objective of teaching in the field was, intellectualized understanding of the Executive, thus, reversing the objective laid, down in 1914, namely, preparing ‘specialists for governmental positions’. There, was also a talk of continued ‘dominion of Political Science over Public, Administration’. The process of de-emphasis of Public Administration in the, larger discipline of political science got, if anything, accelerated in the 1960s,, In short, this period witnessed the spectacle of Politics, letting Public Administration separate itself from it, |, ncouraging its growth and development within its, , Public Administration, naturally, was in search, alternative was available in the form of administrative, Administration had to lose its distinctiveness and sepa, a larger field. The protagonists of this view held that, ‘On regardless of its setting, and it was on this premi
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48 Public Administration, , trative Science Quarterly was founded in 1956, James G. March and Simon’s, Organisations, Cyert and March’s 4 Behavioral Theory of the Firm, March 8, Handbook, etc., are among the important works inspired by this perspective., Period V ; 1971-1990—Public Policy Perspective, , Despite the uncertainty and turmoil of the preceding period, Public, Administration during period 1971-90 registered progress and entered the, seventies with an enriched vision. Public Administration attracted within its fold, scholars from various disciplines and thus was becoming truly interdisciplinary, in its nature. Indeed, of all the social sciences, it is Public Administration which, is most ‘Interdisciplinary’., , It is focussing its attention more and more on the dynamics of adminis., tration. It is also drawing heavily on the management science. Public Administration has come closer to policy science and related areas and has been showing, ample concern for issues in the field., , Period VI : 1991-continuing—Rowing to Steering, , The sees of the period which began in the year 1991 were sown in the, preceding one. The public bureaucracy was viewed as the society 's favourite, solution to the problems confronting. The solution failed to feeling disillusioned, with bureaucracy, leading at to search for its alternatives. The alternatives, discovered are the market and the non-governmental organisations (NGOs). New, public management and the civil society are the emerging new paradigims. New, Public Management is discussed elsewhere in the present work. The book of, Osborne and Gacbler published in 1992 entitled Reinventing Government was, , a remarkable work in the field of contemporary Public Administration which l, redefine the functions of Government.!, , Conclusion, , As an academic field, Public Administration’s evolution may thus be viewed, as a succession of five over-lapping paradigms. Nicholas Henry includes the |, politics-administration dichotomy (1900-1926), the principles of administration, , (1927-1937), public administration as a part of political science (1950-1970), public Administration as administrative s :, , i ion 4 cience (1956-1970). Public Administration as Public Administration (1970-91) and Public Administration as New Public, Administration. The emerging focus of public administration is organisation, theory and management science, its focus is the public interest and public affairs., The foregoing discussion may invite one criticism from the readers. It seeks, to trace the history of Public Administration solely in the context of the United, States. The discipline of Public Administration would, indeed, become altogether, Sot te tbr if the American contribution to it is taken away. The disel line |, wes bom in : * heat and 't strongly bears the marks of its parentage. USA,, Acheinisieaion. | Nt source of literature in the field of Publi¢, , e, country has seen the emerge!, , is directly experiencing th, , ature but should not surprise us very m |, uch,, Nce of what is aptly called the ‘Org Tha, , : nization Man’, ts Me organizational thrusts and thus is fi Man’,, 1 Osborne, David and Gacble, , ace to face with, 1, Te y 1, Transforming the Public Se 4. Reinventing Government; How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is, , ctor, Prentice Hall, New Delhi, 1992.