Development

Administration
and
Development
Management
 Outline

• Concept of development administration

• Scholar’s views
• Leading factors for the emergence of development
administration
• Two facets of development administration
• Nature of development administration
• Functions of development administration
• Criticisms
• Contemporary ideas of development administration
• Shift from development administration to development
management
• Major problems in development administration
• Development Management
 Conceptual understanding
• Development administration vs non-development
administration

• Development Administration is the branch of public

administration in general and the comparative study of
public administration in particular.

• Responsible for carrying out developmental plans,

programs and projects in a country.

• Development administration was popularized in 1960s

(F.W Riggs, Edward Weidner and others)
 Contd..
• The main essence of development administration
is to combine skills and knowledge which exists
in developing countries and bring them to bear
more effectively in action programs which will
accelerate economic growth, expand social well
being and improve public services.

• Improvement of a public administration system

as part of the total effort of national
development.
• focus on planning, organizing, and leading
development
• improve administrative mechanism (admn.
reform)
• train personnel & maintain employees’ morale
• adopt flexibility for carrying out development
activities
• implement decentralization
• adopt two way communication
• ensure administrative and political commitment
• bring people’s participation & mobilize local
resources
Two schools of thought; Narrower and Broader sense

(1) Narrow sense

• Development administration involves establishment of

administrative machinery for economic growth and mobilizing
and allocating resources to expand national income.

(2) Broader sense

• Development administration refers to the entire process of
guiding organizations towards the achievement of political,
economic and social objectives of the state.

• Concerned with administrative system and its capabilities

 Scholars’ view
• “Development administration is basically action-oriented and
goal-oriented administrative system. It is the process of
guiding an organization towards the achievement of
progressive political, economic and social objectives”-
Weidner

• “Development Administration in contextual and operational

terms implies efficient organization and management of the
development activities of a nation to attain the goals of
development” - Hope

• DA is concerned with formulation and implementation of

development plans, policies, programs and projects (4Ps) –
Donald Stone
 Contd..
• From the definitions offered by various scholars, it is
found that the primary objective of development
administration is to strengthen the administrative
machinery which would bring about socio-politico-
economic development.

• In short, development administration is the process of

carrying out development programs and projects in the
direction of nation building and socio-economic
progress through a developed administrative
organization.
Leading factors for emergence of development
Administration (How it evolved?)
• Comparative Administrative Group (CAG)
• The impact of great depression
• Post-war reconstruction and Marshall Plan
• The end of colonialism and emergence of
new states
• The cold war and development assistance
• Intellectual context
Two facets of Development Administration

• Administration of development

• Development of Administration
Nature of Development administration
According to George Cant, development administration is
characterized by its purposes, its loyalties and its attitudes.

• Purposes; change, progress and innovation rather than

status quo.

• Loyalties; client-oriented accountable and responsive to

the public wishes and demands rather then any vested
interests.

• Attitudes; more flexible, adaptable and result-oriented.

 Nature of Development
administration(contd..)
Others
(i) Change orientation
(ii) Result-orientation
(iii) Commitment
(iv) Client-orientation
(v) Temporal-dimension/ time bound
(vi) Goal- orientation
(vii)Public participation
(viii)Creativity / innovativeness
 Functions of development administration
(1) From the perspective of objectives
• Integrating diverse religious, communal and regional groups
into national mainstream,
• Displacement of vested traditional social and economic
interest,
• Promotion of psychological and material security
• Mobilization of savings
• Rational planning of investment
• Development of modernizing skills and institution,
occupational specialization and development of expertise
• Organizing and distributing formal power and functions
among the agencies of different layers of government.
 Functions of development administration
(contd..)
(2) From the perspective of administration of
development
• Formulation of development goals and policies,
• Program formulation and project management,
• Implementation of development program and
projects,
• Evaluation of the result of the programs and
projects,
• Encouraging peoples’ participation in developmental
activities.
Functions of development administration
(contd..)
(3) From the perspective of development
administration
• Administrative reform,
• Civil service reform,
• Studies to identify the problems of
administrative system and also to develop
measures to solve them.
Functions of development administration
(contd..)
(4) From the perspective of change in role
• Role of institution building,
• Role of human resource development and
planning,
• Role of occupational specialization,
• Role of effective utilization of resources,
• Role of maximizing innovation and creativity.
Functions of development administration
(contd..)
(5) From the perspective of areas
• community services
• Rural development
• Urban development
 Criticisms
• Nothing new.
• Regarded as old wine in a new bottle.
(conceptual perspective)

• Tends to magnify the role of bureaucracy,

which has traditionally being the problem in
most of the developing countries.
• It does not emphasize other reforms in
existing administration. (practical perspective)
 Criticisms (contd..)
• The idea of development is an elitist one which was designed
by western elites. It was planned intervention approach to
change in developing countries into the market based, elite
controlled and promotion of western values. It was a sugar-
coated idea imported from the west. (model perspective)

• The development administration was an American dream

which was also the “world dream”. The entire plan was
devised by the US President Harry Truman to extend the
Marshall Plan to developing nations. It was the strategy
against the growth of communism in the third world
countries. (leftist Perspective)
 Contemporary ideas of development
administration
• Development administration is a means of achieving political,
economic, social and cultural objectives of a country. It is a
mechanism through which developmental goals of a country are
achieved.
• Apart from government agencies, non-government
organizations, voluntary and grass-root organizations and
community based organizations are involved in development
process.
• People-centered approach to development and needs of the
people are highly emphasized. Accordingly, people are not
regarded as subjects rather they are active actors of
development who have the right to define the goals, control
resources and direct process that affect their daily lives.
 Shift from Development Administration to
Development Management
• During the 1950s, the reform in administration
involved the conversion of the colonial law and
order form of administrative system into a more
productive bureaucratic administrative system
which resulted in the western centered and
government led development approach in the
post-colonial context.

• The bureaucratic administrative system was

regarded as the principal instrument to promote
development in the third world countries.
• Bureaucracy was perceived as the central
machinery of national government for
formulating and implementing developmental
plans and programs.

• Development administration was a US-led

movement which was promoted by western
elites.

• Western development assistance was the

mechanisms to promote development of
developing countries
• In light of changing national and
international conditions, the field of public
administration is going through an exercise of
rebounding and reinventing. Globalization,
technological advancements, and ecological
concerns have diluted the importance of
development administration.
 Major problems
• Greater role of government and huge
bureaucracy

• By the 1970s, the western values imported

with the administrative tools were judged
inappropriate. Cultural differences were
recognized as a great obstacle to the smooth
functioning of western tools and dominant
Weberian model of bureaucracy.
• In the late 1960s and the beginning of the
1970s, modernization theory was severely
criticized. The attacks on modernization theory
were oriented to attack on development
administration.

• The widespread corruption, ineffective

administrative system, incapable government
institutions call for the reform in the existing
government administration to accelerate
development in both developing and
developed countries.
• In 1980s, managerialism appeared as a
dominant paradigm in the western countries.

• Neoliberal economic reforms, new ideas from

new public management movement, etc got
momentum in 1980s which emphasized on
rolling back the state.

• The failure of development administration led

development experts and institutions to look for
new alternative approaches to development.
• As a result, in 1980s, a new environment
emerged which rejected most of the
founding premises of the development
administration movement. Since 1980s, the
term development administration shifted to
development management.
 Development management
• The concept of development management came in the
scene only in the early 1980s which is somehow found
in development administration and also replacing the
development administration.

• The crisis in development administration encouraged

“Managerialism” in the field of development discourse.

• The focus of public sector reforms in the 1980s led to

move away from rigid and bureaucratic organizations
towards a more flexible management capable of
achieving results.
• New ideas such as reducing the size of the state, roles
of bureaucracy and encouraging the roles of the
private sector through market mechanisms to
promote development appeared dominant ideas in
development discourse which is known as
development management.

• Development management represents a major shift

from traditional administrative system towards the
new administrative system that pays more attention
to the achievement of results and personal
responsibilities of administrators for achieving results.
Generally, development management has two
aspects;

• Reforms in the existing administration to

facilitate development process

• Adoption of private sectors principles and best

practices in the formulation and
implementation of development programs.
A number of common theme emerged in the
1980s which represent a considerable
departure from the dominant theme of 1960s;

• A move away from bureaucratic

organizational structure to more flexible ones
• Clearly defined organizational and personal
roles in order to measure achievements
• A market driven, result oriented and mission
driven administrative system
• Reducing government functions through
privatization and contracting out to save
government resources and to minimize wasteful
spending.

• Eliminating bureaucratic red tape, empowering

government employees and incorporating
innovative and creative decision making
procedures, promoting maximum choices for the
people, promoting the roles of market and
minimizing the roles for government to facilitate
development
• Development management paradigm
emphasizes that the public sector should play
a very limited role in development because
the basic function of the state is to create a
stable and conducive environment in which
private sector should engage to pursue
developmental goals.