EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION
 Schools of Thought in Public
Administration
• The study of public administration is divided in following Schools:
1. The Classical School
2. Human Relations School
3. Behavioral School
4. System School
5. Management Science School
6. Power and Politics School
 Classical School
• The main contributors of this school are:
• Woodrow Wilson
• Leonard D. White
• W. F. Willoughby
• Henry L. Gantt
• Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
• Max Weber
• Henri Fayol
• Fredrick Winslow Taylor
Leonard D. White and W. F. Willoughby
• “Introduction to the Study of Public Administration” (1926) by Leonard D.
White.
• He commented that government should function in the context of
democratic values (role of states in human affairs). According to him there
are 2 concerns in public administration:
1. Efficiency: to improve the functioning of organization.
2. Democratic values: that the organizations should keep in view the democratic
values when providing services.
• W. F Willoughby in his article “Principles of Public Administration” (1927)
emphasized the idea of “value free” science of management.
• By value free service he meant that those executing public programmes
should be neutral, unbiased and provide services without discrimination.
 F. W. Taylor
• Fredrick Winslow Taylor is called the “father of scientific management”.
• He worked as machine operator in Midvale Steel Company in USA. He
observed the workers using shovels for unloading coal and iron ore what
he observed was that when workers shovel rice coal they can lift 3.75 lbs.
And when they shoveled iron ore they could lift 38 lbs.

His question was which is the right load?

• In order to find the answer he thought that he should inquire and he

thought should ask people. But then he thought he should conduct
experiment to find the right answer. He thought the experiment will give the
right output.
• We must remember that the time period of Taylor was mid 19th century,
and the impact of industrial revolution on organizations were imminent.
The organizations were demanding more output from labour.
• This demand led to dissatisfaction in the labour because the labour
thought that if they gave more output more will be expected.
Core Principles of Scientific Management
• The development of a science of work to replace the old rule of
thumb method by which workmen operated
• There is “one best way” of performing a scientific work operation
• Breakdown each job to it’s smallest components and identify what sort
of behaviors and workers would best do to each task
• He used the ‘stopwatch’ to discover scientifically the shortest possible
time for performing any specific job: shoveling pig iron, cutting steel,
inspecting ball bearings
• Scientific selection and progressive development of the worker
• Workers should be scientifically selected
• Must be trained to be ‘first class’ at some task
• Competency is a result of training
• Management should identify various possibilities and provide
opportunities for improvement of workers
• The bringing together the science of work and the scientifically
selected and trained workers for the best results
• With the application of scientific techniques of work by the well-trained
workers, under the supervision of professional management, output
would increase
• The common economic reward is large increase in wages of workmen
and profits of manufacturer: mutuality of economic interests
• Equal division of work and responsibility between workers and
management
• Management’s job is task planning, designing work processes and
work flow, establish rules and formulae which would replace judgement
of worker
• Workers are responsible for task implementation
• Separation of planning and execution intended: managers are brains of
operation of the organization who supervise, control and ensure quality
standards
• Emphasis on teamwork and cooperation between management
and workers
• Close cooperation between workers and management would eliminate
conflict between them; result is higher prosperity both for the employer
and the employee
• Functional management
• Maximum specialization
• Suggested a system of eight narrowly specialized supervisors
• Cost clerk, time clerk, inspector, repair boss and shop disciplinarian
• In other words, functional foremanship
• Motivation
• Workers should be scientifically motivated to do as management
instructs
• Pay is related to productivity: People would be paid according to how
much they produce
• Failure to achieve task would result in loss of earnings
• Economic rewards and sanctions should effectively motivate workers to
high performance
The Shoveling Experiment
• In order to conduct the experiment he selected 2 best shovelers and told them
that they will be paid double wages if they did what was told to them. The two
selected men were the best in the company. They had reputation of working hard
and honestly.
• The two men shoveled the whole day, in two different places until they were tired
but not over-tired (a good day’s work). Their supervisor noted down the following:
1. What was the number of shovelful in a day by each worker?
2. Weight of load in shovel (38-39 lbs) by each worker
• His experiment gave him results that if different kinds of shovels were used, the
shoveler can lift load between 21.5 lbs to 38 lbs. But this was possible if the
worker was well trained and worked consistently.
Results of the Experiment
• There is scientific way of doing things and he called it „one best way‟
• Replace rule of thumb with science
• Obtain harmony in group action rather than discord
• Achieving cooperation of human beings rather than chaotic individualism
• Working for maximum output rather than restricted output (productivity)
• Developing all workers to the fullest extent for their own and company’s
prosperity
• Workers should be carefully selected
Criticism on Taylor’s Scientific Management
• A micro-level theory for study of organization
• Concerned with output optimization at shop level
• Little attention to overall administrative structures of organization
• Based on machine-like formalized picture of organization
• Treated workers like machine cogs; depersonalized resources
• Failed to take into account the social and psychological aspects and the
values held by workers
• Sacrificed initiative of worker, individual freedom and use of intelligence and
responsibility
• Primary concern is higher output
• Worker’s boredom, alienation and occupational disease is secondary concern
• Economic incentives not enough to motivate people
• Manager and workers both rejected Taylor’s theory
• Managers’ judgement and discretion not taken into account
• In spite of aid to efficiency, it imposed a system on workers
 Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick
• Gulick and Urwick were practical administrative reformers and
greatly involved in American public administration
• Both were confidants of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and
advised him on variety of administrative problems and
managerial matters
• In 1937, they edited a series of essays titled “Papers on the
Science of Administration”
• They incorporated principles of orthodox public administration
 Main Ideas of Gulick
• 10 principles of administration:
1. Division of work or specialization
2. Bases of departmental organization
3. Coordination through hierarchy
4. Deliberate coordination
5. Coordination through committees
6. Decentralization
7. Unity of Command
8. Staff and line
9. Delegation
10. Span of control
• POSDCORB formula
1. Planning: deciding in advance the things that need to be done and the
method for accomplishing them
2. Organizing: establishing the formal structure of the enterprise
3. Staffing: all aspects of the personnel management, from the initial
appointment to the final retirement
4. Directing: decision making and communicating orders to the subordinates
for implementing the policies already decided
5. Coordinating: interrelating the various parts of the work
6. Reporting: supplying information through record keeping, reports, research
and inspection
7. Budgeting: functions relating to fiscal planning, accounting and control
• POSDCORB served as the basis of instructing future administrators
and for analyzing administrative organizations
• Summarizes the Classical school of thoughts’ concept of executive
government
Gulick’s Concept of basis of
Organization
(Departmentalization)
• Organizations can be structured
according to 4 basic criteria:
• Purposes they serve (e.g., Departments
of Education and Health)
• Processes they use (e.g., Departments of
engineering and accounting)
• Persons dealt with (e.g., Departments of
Tribal Welfare)
• Place or area where work is performed
(e.g., forest department)
Gulick’s view of P. Ad.
• P. Ad. deals is same as big business
• The same managerial principles and
values are applicable to both public
and private administration
Urwick’s Concept of basis of
Organization
• 8 principles of Organizations:
• The principle of objectives
• The principle of correspondence
• The principle of responsibility
• The principle of span of control
• The scalar principle
• The principle of specialization
• The principle of coordination
• The principle of definition
Urwick’s view of P. Ad.
• No distinction between public and
private administration
• “administration is a science per se”
Criticism
• The span of control needed to promote efficiency in police
department might prove totally inefficient if applied to a
government research laboratory
• The earlier dogmas of economy of efficiency have been
replaced by social efficiency
• Gulick’s scheme of classification or organizations into four
categories is overlapping. Organizations are usually a mix of all
four basis.
• Gulick’s definition of public administration as executive branch
of government is narrow. Today, P. Ad. Is viewed as an all-
inclusive process calling for interaction and interdependence
between the organs of govt. so as to integrate human effort for
goal realization.
 James D. Mooney and Alan C. Riley
• Both were executives in General Motors in USA in early 1930s
• Published their book “The Principles of Organization” in 1939
• They demonstrated that military, religious and industrial
organizations have common attributes
• Identified four principles of organization:
1. Functional Principle: duties and responsibilities of each job must be clearly
defined
2. Coordinative Principle: “orderly arrangement of group effort to provide unity
of action in the pursuit of a common purpose”
3. Scalar Principle: system of hierarchy
4. Line-staff Principle: the line is the action, operational and authoritative side
of the hierarchy. Responsible for getting things done. By contrast, staff
function is concerned with advice, research, ideas and facilitation.
• The writings of Mooney and Riley popularized such devices as
organization charts and manuals.
 Henry L GANTT
• Gantt also belongs to the classical school, because he was also
trying to focus on efficiency and maximization of output.
• He emphasized the need for developing mutuality of interests
between management and labor, which mean a “harmonious
cooperation,” between both.
• He asserted:
• That in all problems of management the human element is the most
important.
• The importance of time, as well as cost, in planning and controlling work
• This led eventually to the famous Gantt chart, (Figure below) which is basis of
such modern techniques as the Program Evaluation and Review Technique
(PERT).
• This chart enables managers to break work in task and then
determine to how much time and resources will be required to
complete each task.
 Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
• Frank and Lillian Gilbreth (husband and wife) strongly
supported the ideas of Taylor.
• Frank Gilbreth became interested in wasted motions in work.
He observed the work of bricklayers and said that it can be
reduced from 18 to 5 movements.
• He met F.W. Taylor in 1907 and combined his ideas with Taylor
to improve productivity of workers.
• Frank and Lillian Gilbreth emphasized the following:-
• Application of scientific-management principles (time and motion study)
• The need to understand workers personalities and needs
Henri Fayol
• Henri Fayol is called the father of modern management theory. He
was a French Industrialist. His book on “General Administration”
appeared in 1916. It was written in French. Fayol found that activities
of industrial undertaking could be grouped in 6 parts:
1. Technical Activities (Production, manufacture, and adaptation)
2. Commercial (buying, selling, exchange)
3. Financial (search for optimal use of capital)
4. Security (protection of property and persons)
5. Accounting (stocktaking, balance sheet, costs, statistics)
6. Managerial (Planning, organization, command, coordination, control)
General Principles of Management
• He gave following 14 general principles of management:
1. Division of work
2. Authority & Responsibility
3. Discipline: respect for agreement
4. Unity of command: receive order from one superior only
The figure below shows senior manager supervising the work of 3 Assistants. All 3 receive order from
one superior.

5. Unity of direction: each group of activities with same objectives must have one head and one
plan.
6. Subordination of individual interests to the general interest: The mangers should work in the
interests of organization.
7. Remuneration: methods of payment should be fair and give maximum satisfaction to employee
and employer
8. Centralization: The extent to which the authority is concentrated in one person or dispersed in
the organization
9. Scalar chain (line of authority) or chain of command
10. Order: a place for everything and every thing in its place
11. Equity: justice and fairness on the part of managers
12. Stability of tenure of personnel
13. Initiative: keenness to work
14. Esprit de corps: union is strength (teamwork)
 Main Features of Classical School
• The main focus of the classical school was as follows:-
1. The task of administration is not political but technical, i.e. only carry
out the will of the political authority.
2. Its emphasizes is on material and methods instead of human element
in the organization
3. It treated people as “cogs in the machines‟ people in the organization
were like other machines and tools.
4. Focus was to increase productivity
5. Treats organizations as closed systems
6. Oversimplification of human motivation
Human Relation Approach
• This approach started as a reaction to the classical approach.
• It was initiated in 1930s with the “Human Relation Movement”.
• Those who believed in the assumptions of classical school ignored the
human element in the organizations.
• They looked at human beings as mechanical devises. Initially the
methods of Classical Schools worked, and then gradually these
stopped giving intended results.
• Research and Theory development in the 1950s and 1960s provided
further conceptual grounding to this school of thought.
• The main contributors to human relation schools were
• Elton Mayo,
• Chester I. Barnard and
• Herbert Simon.
• Human relations theory has diverse tradition of models, techniques,
research findings, and ideas that often trace their roots back to the
Hawthorne Experiments.
Hawthorne studies
• Elton Mayo, Roethlisberger and other undertook the famous experiment at
Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company at Cicero, Illinois, USA,
between1927-1932.
• Before that from 1924 to 1927, the National Research Council (USA) did study in
collaboration with Western Electric Company to determine the effect of
illumination and other conditions on workers and their productivity Researchers
conducting the experiments at the Hawthorne Plant of Western Electric Company
• They placed two groups of employees doing the same work into separate rooms.
• One group was treated as the control, and the second was test group.
• The control group is one for which the variables like light, temperature and
working conditions are not changed.
• The test group is one for which the variables like light temperature etc., are
changed.
• The test group in the Hawthorne Experiment was exposed to various
experimental changes such as increased lighting, decreased lighting, rest,
pauses, and so on.
• For the test group the light was gradually decreased. It was decreased to the
extent that it was as little as moonlight.
• The researchers of Western Electric Company expected the experiments
to lead to different levels of performance for the experimental (control)
group, and for the test group.
• To the amazement of the researchers, both groups increased their
performance.
• The Researchers concluded that the experimental design was
problematic, which allowed extraneous factors to enter the design that led
to these unanticipated results.
• What Mayo and his colleagues found that employees in the groups were
treated as special. They were given attention by management, separated
from other employees, and encouraged to perform.
• They found in general that improvements in productivity were due to social
factors as morale, good relations with managers and members of group.
• Employees who are given attention by management, who are treated as
special, and who perceive their work as significant can become highly
motivated and thus become more productive.
• This phenomenon arising basically from people being “noticed” is called
Hawthorne effect.
• What the Hawthorne studies emphasized that organizations are not just
machines & tools but are also social systems.
Chester I. Barnard
• Chester I Bernard wrote the most influential book entitled “The
Function of the Executive”.
• He was the president of Bell Telephone Company in New
Jersey, USA from 1927 to 1948. Barnard was much influenced
by Mayo and others of Human Relation Schools.
• His analysis of the manager was that the manager has to
understand the behavior of people in organization and maintain
a system of cooperative effort in formal organizations. In his
book he emphasized the following:
• He focused on social implications (aspects) of organization. In
response to Scientific Management Theory, Barnard added the human
component to the work situation
• He argued that the manager's role included gaining cooperation,
defining purposes, and providing a system of communication.
• He believed that the subordinate was the ultimate source of authority;
he or she chooses whether to accept or reject orders given by the
manager.
• According to him subordinates had three zones or range of
orders that workers will operate under:
• The zone of rejection,
• The zone of acceptance,
• The zone of indifference

• The Three Zones of Employees

• According to Bernard If employees are managed property, the
zone of acceptance can extend into the zone of indifference,
thereby increasing the worker's tolerance for the manager's
orders.
• If managed inappropriately the zone of indifference will turn into
the zone of rejection, thereby decreasing the worker's tolerance
for the manager's orders.
• Barnard believed that organizations could be improved by the
adoption of:
• A cooperative attitude between functional units (worker & managers)
• Interdepartmental instruction (coordination among departments)
• The cross training of personnel (training of employee from different
departments of the organization)
 Theory of Bureaucracy
Max Weber (1864-1920)
• Max Weber was a lawyer who got interested in the social aspects of
organizations.
• During his time markets were booming and his life long work on the
study of organizations led to believe that specific kind of
organizations called “bureau” (desk), will help in the growth of
markets.
• He gave following main characteristics of the bureaucracy:
General Characteristics
• Hierarchy of authority
• Impersonality
• Written rules and documents
• Promotion based on achievement
• Specialized division of labor
• Efficiency
Hierarchy of Authority
• Hierarchy is the various levels in the Organization.
Authority
• Authority is the ability to exercise influence over a
group of people. As shown in the figure a
hierarchical organization looks like Pyramid.
• Weber distinguished three main types of
authority:
1. Traditional Authority: The authority that one inherits,
e.g. the son of king will be the future king. In
traditional societies the authority is transmitted.
2. Charismatic: It is the authority that one possesses
because of one’s personal traits and abilities. e.g. TV
artist, sports stars.
3. Rational-legal Authority: It is the authority that is
acquired as a result of a position. e.g. Policeman has
authority because of the position. One may posses a
mix of these above authorities.
Impersonality
• The official is provided all equipment to carry out his duties; he does not own the "means
of administration.” Activities are completed impersonally, which means that the “self” of
individual is not involved in the work.
Written Rules and Documents
• Bureaucracy demands that the written rules of the organization be strictly followed and
that the officials remain loyal. All the work in organization is written. Compliance is to the
written instructions.
Promotion Based on Achievement
• Bureaucracy requires the tasks assigned to an official performed and completed in an
efficient and effective manner, and promotion is based on the level of skill and ability of
the official.
Specialization/ Division of Labour
• Each person should perform a given and assigned task

• Example:
1. A person assigned the task of typing should only perform that task. He should not be asked to do
other task. If he/she continues to perform the task he/she will develop competence in that area.
2. Pin making: Another example is of pin making given by Adam Smith. If the pin is made by one
person he will take longer. But if the wire is straightened by one person, the other person cuts the
wire and the third person rounds the head of the pin, then the output can be increased due to
specialization