POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Introduction to Public
Administration:
History and
Theoretical Evolution
Prepared by: Kier Franco, MPA
Learning
Objectives:
Identify and understand basic concepts in Public
Administration
Define Public Administration and Philippine Public
Administration
Summarize the different theories, models, and
perspectives in public administration
 What comes into
your mind when you
see, hear, or read
the word: PUBLIC?
PUBLIC
It is the regarded as the object or subject matter of public
administration and refers to collective problems that do not
respond to individual initiatives.

It refers to the stakeholders or actors in Public Administration.

It is also referred to as an interest orientation of Public

Administration where it recognizes the supremacy of certain
collective needs over individual self-interest.
 ETYMOLOGY
From the Latin word
administrate. To look after
or care for people, as well
as to manage affairs.
LEONARD WHITE
A process common to all
group effort, public or
ADMINISTRATION private, civil or military,
large scale or small scale.
JAMES L. MCCANNY
Administration is the
organization and use of
men and materials to
accomplish a purpose.
RI C HMA N A N D C O P E N
Concerned with the
implementation of plans and
objectives as well as internal
operational efficiency.
LUTHER GULICK
Administration has to do with
getting things done; with the
accomplishment of defined
objectives.
PFIFFNER AND PRESTHUS
Organization and direction of
human and material resources to
achieve desired ends
 What is Public
Administration?
According to Woodrow Wilson
It is a detailed and systematic application of
law.

It is the science of administration. In other

words, it is the "government in action".
According to Dwight Waldo
Waldo, in his earlier works, identified public
administration as "the organization and
management of men' and' materials to
achieve the purposes of government." He also
added, "the art and science of management
as applied to the affairs of the state".
Rosenbloom and Kravchuck, (2009: 5) defined
Public Administration as the use of
managerial, political, and legal theories and
processes to fulfill legislative, executive,
and judicial mandates for the provision of
governmental regulatory and service
functions.

According to Luther Gulick, it is that part of

science of administration which has to do
with the government and thus concerns itself
primarily with the executive branch where
the work of government is done.
Percy McQueen said that “Public
Administration is administration related to
the operations of government whether local
or central”.

Leonard D. White said that it is concerned

with action in particular concrete situations,
but in accordance with long-range objectives.
It “consists of all those operations having for
their purpose the fulfillment of enforcement
of public policies as declared by the
competent authority.”
 Public vs Private
Administration
Public administration is bureaucratic, while
private administration is business-like;

Public administration is political, whereas

private administration is non-political;

Public administration is characterized by red-

tape from which private administration is
comparatively free.
Four major points of difference
between public and private
administration (Stamp, ud):

The Principle of Uniformity

External financial control
Public accountability
Profit motive
 Is there a
Philippine Public
Administration?
De Guzman (1986) explained that there is a
Philippine Public Administration as there is
American Public Administration, French Public
Administration and Thai Public
Administration.

The bureaucracy in the Philippines exhibits

generally accepted organizational features
common to all public bureaucracies.
Concurring with De Guzman, Brillantes and
Fernandez (2008), believed that there is indeed
Philippine Public Administration. They added
that there is a Philippine public
administration as there are institutions of
public administration addressing specific
sectoral concerns. There is a Philippine public
administration as a field of study.
There is a Philippine public administration
considering the massive role of the
bureaucracy in Philippine public
administration. There is a Philippine public
administration as regards major institutions
in education, politics and government.
There exists an executive branch with the
bureaucracy at its core, a Philippine
legislature, and a Philippine judiciary. There
are Philippine electoral processes and
procedures. There are Philippine subnational
institutions and local governments,
together with decentralization processes and
procedures. Within this context, we can
arguably affirm that indeed, there is a
Philippine public administration characterized
by the presence of administrative structures
and processes operating within a unique
Philippine context. (Brillantes and Fernandez,
2008)
 Theories, Models
and Perspectives in
Public
Administration
OVERVIEW

Agricultural revolution and

Industrialization expanded the
organizational theories.
These theories both apply in the private
and public sector.
The theories, model, and approaches then
find unique application in the public sector
because of the structural and functional
changes in the government.
Non-Western View of Public
Administration

Other views on Public Administration as a

practice could be traced back from ancient
empires of China, India, Egypt, Greece,
Rome and Mesopotamia (Caiden, 1982)

There were also known practices of Public

Administration which include the
Confucianism and Islam (Caiden, 1982).
Western View of Public
Administration

Politics-Administration Dichotomy
Politics-Administration Accord
Politics-Administration Interaction
POLITICS-ADMISTRATION
DICHOTOMY
The function of politics is to provide
guidance, or what Wilson said, “setting the
task for administration." The function of
public administration, on the other hand, is
to provide neutral competence to the
governance process.

The goal is to professionalized public

administration.

Separate those political officials and

employees to those civil servants

Public administrators are linked to elected

officials in a subordinate position.
Public administration is an inseparable part of
the governance process and it is neither possible
nor desirable to achieve even a partial
separation of politics from administration.

THREE REASONS

First, non-existence of all-powerful center of

authority.

Second, there is a concept known as administrative

discretion.

Third, ethics and morality issues.

The interaction school represents various efforts to find a
common ground between the political and separation schools.

Collaboration between elected and administrative officials

while maintaining each one’s traditional roles and unique
perspectives, yet allowing some overlaps.

As an alternative to the dichotomy model of the separation

school, the interaction school brings the concept of
continuum.
Classical Organization Theory

Under this concept, the organization as a

system is focusing on efficiency,
reasonableness of action and the exercise of
control in achieving economic goals. The
assumption is that there is ‘One best way’ in
organizing production through application of
systematic and scientific principles. (Shafritz
and Hyde, 1997)

Primarily, the concern is the overall structure

and management of an organization and
division of labor.
Criticisms - Classical Organization
Theory

Although this theory has laid foundation for the

systematic improvement of labor, time, and
overall organizational structure for the ease in
production, weaknesses were identified such as;
it is largely derived intellectually rather than
empirically, it also reduces the human
component to simply fleshy machines and
promotes capital intensive economies; it leads
to the deterioration of individual craftsmanship
and it is concerned with anatomy/structure
rather than individual needs and potentials
(Shafritz and Hyde, 1997).
Neo-Classical Organization Theory

This theory was established at the end of the

World War II in 1945.
Generally, its theoretical perspective tried to
cover the holes in classical organization theory,
particularly for minimizing issues related to the
humanness of organizational members, the
coordination needs among administrative units,
the operation of internal-external
organizational relations, and the processes used
in decision making (Shafritz and Hyde, 1997).
One of the major themes of the theorists was
that organizations did not and could not exist as
self-contained islands isolated from their
environments.
Criticism: Neo-Classical
Organization Theory

Although it has provided several assumptions,

it couldn’ t stand on its own because there were
no adequate structure or body of theories that
could replace the classical organization
(Shafritz and Hyde, 1997).
Human Resource Theory/Organizational
Behavior Theory

This theory assumed that organizations exist to

serve human needs, and organization and people
need each other.
In highlights the role of the organization in
allowing and encouraging people' s growth and
development.
Criticism: Human Resource
Theory/Organizational Behavior Theory

According to Shafritz and Hyde, the theory

considers productivity through the lens of
employee behavior, not the other way around.
Additionally, critics claim some aspects, including
Maslow’ s contributions, are not supported
empirically and oversimplify the complex structure
of human needs and motivations.
Development Administration
D e v e l o p m e n t A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ( D A ) is re f e rrin g t o t h e
d e v e l o p i n g c o u n t r i e s w h i c h are l a rg e l y f ou n d in A s ia ,
L a t i n A m e r i c a , a n d A f r i c a . T h e s e ‘ e m e rg in g n a t ion s ’
w e r e t r y i n g t o r e s u r r e c t t h e m s e l v e s a f t e r W orl d W a r
II (Nef and Dwivedi, 1981).

T h e s e a r e t h e u n d e r l y i n g a s s u m p t ion s u n d e r D A ; ( 1 )
d e v e l o p m e n t n e e d s a r e t h e m os t im p ort a n t n e e d s of
d e v e l o p i n g c o u n t r i e s , ( 2 ) N e e d s of d e v e l op in g
c o u n t r i e s a n d 1 9 7 0 s N e w P u b l ic A d m in is t ra t ion 1 9 8 0 s
- 1 9 9 0 s N e w P u b l i c M a n a g e m e n t a n d Re in v e n t in g
G o v e r n m e n t d e v e l o p e d o n e s a re in t rin s ic a l l y
d i f f e r e n t , ( 3 ) d e v e l o p m e n t c a n b e a d m in is t e re d , ( 4 )
p r o c e s s e s a n d s t r a t e g i e s t o d e v e l op m e n t c a n b e
t r a n s f e r r e d , a n d ( 5 ) t h e p o l i t ic a l , s oc ia l , a n d c u l t u ra l
c o n t e x t o f d e v e l o p m e n t c a n b e a l t e re d ( K h a t or, 1 9 9 8 ) .
New Public Administration
T h i s h a s r e j e c t e d t h e c l a s s i c al t h e orie s of P u b l ic
A d m i n i s t r a t i o n a n d i n s t e a d o f f e re d n e w p rin c ip l e s .
Social equity has been added to the fundamental
p r i n c i p l e s o f p u b l i c a d m i n i s t ra t ion w h ic h s h ou l d b e
c a r r i e d o u t a n d b e a l w a y s c o n s id e re d in in q u irie s on
e f f i c i e n c y a n d e f f e c t i v e n e s s ( F re d e ric ks on , 1 9 7 1 ) .

T h e N e w P A a d v o c a t e d t h a t a d m in is t ra t ors s h ou l d n ot
b e n e u t r a l . T h e r e f o r e , t h e y s h ou l d b e c om m it t e d t o
b o t h g o o d m a n a g e m e n t a n d s oc ia l e q u it y .

N e w P A w a s c h a r a c t e r i z e d a s ‘ c l ie n t - orie n t e d
a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ’ , n o n - b u r e a u c ra t ic s t ru c t u re s ,
p a r t i c i p a t o r y d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g , d e c e n t ra l ize d
a d m i n i s t r a t i o n a n d a d v o c a t e - a d m in is t ra t ors
( F r e d e r i c k s o n , 1 9 7 1 ; N i g r o a n d N ig ro 1 9 8 9 ) .
New Public Management
H e r e u n d e r i s t h e c o n s i d e r a t i o n of a ‘ b u s in e s s
o r i e n t e d m a n a g e m e n t ’ . T h i s re f orm h a s b e e n c a l l e d
t h e m o s t s i g n i f i c a n t c h a n g e i n P A a s t h e s e a rc h f or
s o l u t i o n s t o e c o n o m i c p r o b l e m s in 1 9 7 0 s a n d t o
p r o d u c e a g o v e r n m e n t t h a t ‘ w orks b e t t e r b u t c os t s
less’ continues (Denhart 2004: 136).

N e w P u b l i c M a n a g e m e n t i s a s h if t in t o
a ‘ m a n a g e r i a l i s t ’ m o v e m e n t . ( P ol l it t , 1 9 9 0 ) .

N P M f o c u s e s o n t h e s e u n d e r ly in g p rin c ip l e s ;
e m p o w e r m e n t , c o m p e t i t i v e g ov e rn m e n t , re s u l t s -
o r i e n t e d , c u s t o m e r - d r i v e n g ov e rn m e n t , e n t e rp ris in g
g o v e r n m e n t , a n t i c i p a t o r y a n d p a rt ic ip a t ory
g o v e r n m e n t , a n d m a r k e t - o r i e n t e d g ov e rn m e n t
(Osborne and Gaebler 1992: 35-282).
PA as Governance
G o v e r n a n c e p a r a d i g m w a s i n t rod u c e s b y t h e Un it e d
N a t i o n s ( U N ) , W o r l d B a n k ( W B ) , A s ia n D e v e l op m e n t
B a n k ( A D B ) , a n d o t h e r i n t e r n a t ion a l in s t it u t ion s .

G o v e r n a n c e i s m o r e t h a n a n d b e y on d ‘ g ov e rn m e n t ’ . It
i n v o l v e s c i t i z e n s , i n s t i t u t i o n s , org a n iza t ion s , a n d
g r o u p s i n a s o c i e t y w h o m a r t ic u l a t e s in t e re s t ,
e x e r c i s e t h e i r r i g h t s , a n d m e d ia t e t h e ir d if f e re n c e s
i n p u r s u i t o f t h e c o l l e c t i v e g ood ( A D B 1 9 9 5 a s c it e d
in ADB 2005: 1)

G o v e r n a n c e i s t h e m a n n e r i n w h ic h p u b l ic of f ic ia l s
a n d i n s t i t u t i o n s a c q u i r e a n d e x e rc is e t h e a u t h orit y
Thank you!