Notes

Program Name: B.A(English)

Course Name: Introduction to Public Administration Sem: II

Unit Number: 1 Unit Name: Public Administration

Topic Name: MEANING AND DEFINITION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

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 MEANING AND DEFINITION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Public Administration is the combination of two words that is Public and Administration. Let’s
begin with Administration first.

What is Administration?
The administration is a very important part of our life. When you go to the highway,
educational institutes, hospitals, etc, you automatically enter the administrative systems.

The word Administration is derived from two Latin words ‘ad’ and ‘ministiare’ which means ‘to
serve’, in simple words administration means to look after people or to manage affairs.

L.D White rightly said that administration is a “process, common to all group efforts; public or
private; civil or military, large scale or small scale. It is a process of work in a departmental
store, a bank, a school, a hotel or a city.”
We all know that man is a social animal. So all the activities of man should be organized and
managed. At first, men need organization for achieving their needs and goals, then to manage
that organization, it is needed for administration.

So, it can be said that Administration is the process of managing the proper coordination of the
relevant elements to achieve a specific goal.

Administration can be private or public. Now the questions are which administration is private
and which one is public?

What is Private Administration?

Private Administration is the administration which deals with the activities of a household, club,
corporation, and private companies. The purpose of private administration may be carried out
by an individual or a group. The ultimate goal of a private administration is the maximization of
profit.

What is Public Administration?

Public refers to the government so, public administration means governmental administration.
In simple language, public administration is the management of governmental affairs and
activities.

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 Definition of Public Administration

1. Woodrow Wilson - Detailed and systematic execution of public law. Every particular
application of general law is an act of administration.

2. L.D.White - Public administration is the activity required for the implementation of public
policy.

3. Felix A. Nigro - Co-operative group efforts in a public setting, covers all the three branches of
the government that is executive, the legislative and judicial branch of the government.
Public administration has an important role to make public policy and its implementation. It
is also associated with various private groups and provides public services to the people.

4. Luther Gullick - Public Administration is that part of the science of administration which has
to do with Government and thus concern itself primarily with the executive branch where
the work of the Government is done.

In a simple way we can say that public administration is the administration in which public
policies are implemented. It is the action part of the government.

From the above definitions you can find that there are two views to define public
administration one is a broader view and the second is Narrow view.

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 Broader View

Public administration refers to activities of all three branches (is executive, legislative and
judicial) of the government. That means in broader sense public administration deals with all
the work process of the three branches of the government.

The broader view has been taken by Woodrow Wilson, Pfiffner, Marshal Dimock, L.D White etc.

Narrow View

In the narrow view, Public administration refers to only activities of executive branches of the
government. Gullick, Simon, Willoughby, Fayol etc. They discusses public administration as only
the activity of the executive branch of the government.

SUMMARY

• Private Administration deals with the activities of a household, club, corporation, and
private companies.

• With the predominance of the above views, it can be said that for the people, the
implementation of bureaucratic policy outside the party politics of the people’s
government is called public administration.

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 QUESTIONS FOR SELF ASSESSMENT

SELECT THE RIGHT OPTION.

Q1. Who among the following says that public administration includes the operations of only
the executive branch of government?

A. L.D.White and Luther Gulick

B. L.D.White

C. Luther Gulick

D. W.F.Willoughby

Q2. The word Administration is derived from two---------------------

A. Greek words

B. Latin words

C. English words

D. None of the above

Q3. Which of the following administrative thinkers has defined administration as “detailed and
systematic execution of public law. Every particular application of general law is an act of
administration”.

A. Woodrow Wilson

B. L.D.White

C. W.F.Willoughby

D. All the above

Q4. Administration which deals with the activities of a household, club, corporation, and private
companies is called as --

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 A. Private administration
B. public administration
C. new administration
D. None of the above.

Q5. Which of the following are the branches of Government

A. executive
B. legislative
C. judicial
D. All of the above

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