DEVELOPMENT

ADMINISTRATION The Three Problems

of Government Action
Dr. Alexander N. Tamondong
MPA 311 – Seminar Issues and
Trends in Public Administration
 The Three Problems
of Government Action

1. How purposefully to guide

government action toward
development objectives
Objectives
To be able to discuss the following:
• How purposely to guide government action
toward development objectives;

• How actually to take account of the many and

complex interdependencies of societal change
and;

• How to insure that governmental administration

is dynamic and innovative.
Introduction:
 The term “development administration” came into use in the
1950s to represent those aspects of public administration and
those changes in public administration, which are needed to
carry out policies, projects, and programs to improve social
and economic conditions. 

 The term Development Administration was first coined by

U.L. Goswami in 1955, but the formal recognition to it was
given when the Comparative Administration Group of the
American Society for Public Administration and the
Committee on Comparative Politics of the Social Sciences
Research Council of the U.S.A. laid its intellectual
foundations.

 Development is the centre of politics of the so called Third

World countries and governments play a key role in national
development.
 Definition:
• For Harry J. Friedman development administration
means (a) Programme implementation for socio
economic progress and monitoring of nation
building progress and (b) Administrative reforms to
keep the bureaucracy updated.
 
• For Hahn Been lee, development administration
involved management of government or of an
agency to ensure capability to cop up with social
change and sustained growth.
  
• George Gant observed that development
administration is "that aspect of Public
Administration in which focus of attention is on
organizing and administering public agencies in
such a way as to stimulate and facilitate defined
programmes of social and economic progress.
 
• According to V. A. Pai Panandikar, the key formula
of Development Administration can be expressed in
the initial letters of COORDINATION of
RESOURCES through ORGANISATION of
PERSONNEL and PROCEDURES (CROPP).
•
Edward Weidner defined it as “The process of guiding an
organisation toward the achievement of progressive
political, economic and social objectives that are
authoritatively determined in one manner or the other”.
 
• Merle Fairsoul regarded development administration as
“a carrier of innovating values, it embraces the way of the
new functions assumed by developing countries
embarking on the F W Riggs path of modernisation and
industrialisation.
 
• To Montgomery, Development Administration connotes
“carrying planned change in the economy or capital
infrastructure and to a lesser extent in the social services
especially, health and education”.
 
• Donald Stones analysed the concept of development
administration in terms of plans, policies, programmes
and projects towards the achievement of developmental
goals. Hence, Development administration is concerned
primarily with the tasks and process of formulating and
implementing the four Ps (Plans, Policies, programmes
and projects), in respect to whatever mixture of goals and
objectives may be politically determined.
Distinction between traditional and Development Administration
Traditional Administration
1. Regulatory Administration
 
2. Oriented towards efficiency
and economy
 
3. Conformity to rules and
procedures
4. Sharp and elaborate
hierarchical structure
5. Centralized decision- making
6. Status Quo oriented
Development Administration
1. Unpredictable new tasks
owing to a rapidly changing
environment
2. Oriented towards
organizational growth and
effectiveness in achievement of
goals
3. Emphasis on high program
standards
4. Structure shaped by
requirements and goals
5. Wide sharing decision- making
6. Change oriented
Characteristics of Development Administration:

 Change Orientation:
The development administration is mainly concerned with socio-
economic change. It is the special orientation which distinguishes it from
traditional ad­ministration which is basically concerned with maintenance of
status quo. 
 Goal Orientation:
Development administration is action-motivated and innovative. It is
oriented to the achievement of certain pre-determined goals. Its perfor­
mance is directly related to productivity. It is concerned with the will to
develop, the mobilization of existing and new resources and the cultivation
of appropriate skills to achieve the develop­ment goals.
 Client Orientation:
Another characteristic of development administration is that it is
client-oriented. It has to be positively oriented towards satisfying the needs
of the people in specific target groups like backward classes, tribal groups,
scheduled castes, workers and women etc. The people are not the passive
beneficiaries, they are the active participants in the develop­ment of public
welfare programs.
 Participation Orientation:
Ensures people’s participation and making people stakeholders in the
development process
 
 Time Orientation:
Time is of great significance in developmental administration as
socio-economic changes have to be brought as quickly as possible. The
development programmes are prepared for a certain time-frame say,
five years, and must be completed within that period. Modern
technologies are used and new organizations are created for
undertaking many types of economic and social functions.
The Planning Commission is one such big organization. The
Departments of Community Development, Women and Child Welfare,
Social Welfare and Rural Development are some other new
organizational set up with defined objectives and functions relating to
national development.
  
 Commitment Orientation
In development administration, the organisational role
expectation is commitment to socio-economic change and concern for
completing time-bound programmes. Bureaucracy is expected to be
“involved” and emotionally attached to the jobs they are called to
perform.
It requires attitudinal change. The civil service should shed away
its procedural rigidi­ties, of a law and order state Police state and
change its attitudes and values to meet the de­mands of new
developmental responsibilities.