North South University

Undergraduate Programme
PAD 201: Introduction to Public Administration

PARADIGM OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Course Teacher
Saifuddin Ahmed (SuA2)
Associate Professor
Department of Peace and Conflict Studies
Dhaka University

E-mail:saifuddin.ahmed@northsouth.edu
 Public Administration

Historical development
and
Emergence as an academic discipline

Paradigm of Public Administration as an

academic discipline

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 Public Administration: Paradigm
“The Study of Administration”; the article written by Woodrow
Wilson, (The then President of the USA) published in the Journal
‘Political Science Quarterly’ in 1887

It is getting harder to run a constitution than to frame it

Political elements in organization

Administrative elements in organization

“There is no Republican way to build a road”

Administration is a science and field of business

As the first proponent; Wilson is considered as Pioneer/Father of

Public Administration
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 Public Administration: Paradigm

Development of Public Administration as an academic discipline:

FIVE PARADIGMS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

1.The Politics/Administration Dichotomy (1900-1926)

2.The Principles of Administration (1927-1937)
I. The challenges (1938-47)
II. Reaction to the challenges (1947-50)
3.Public Administration as Political Science (1950-70)
4.Public Administration as Management (1956-70)
5.Public Administration as Public Administration (1970-?)

PAD 201:INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 4

 Public Administration: Paradigm
1. The Politics/Administration Dichotomy (1900-1926)
‘Politics and Administration’ by Frank J. Goodnow (1900)

Politics and Administration are two distinct and

independent discipline.

“Politics has to do with policies or expression of the state

will, where as administration has to do with the execution
of those policies”

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 Public Administration: Paradigm
The Politics/Administration Dichotomy (1900-1926)

‘Introduction to the Study of Public Administration’ by L.D. White

(1926)

• Politics should not intrude on administration

• Public administration is a value-free field
• Politics/Public Administration dichotomy is a value/fact
dichotomy
• Management lends itself to scientific study
• Public Administration is Locus.
• Locus means the institution.
• Where of the field of Public Administration.
• The field/ institution of Public Administration is Bureaucracy
PAD 201:INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
 Public Administration: Paradigm
The Principles of Administration (1927-1937)

 Scientific method of Management of public affairs (F.W.Taylor)

 Bureaucracy – rule by officials rationally

 Management practices, organizational behaviour and structure,

budgeting and personnel for professionalism (Internal Issue)
 Administrative responsibility, public interest, Culturalism and
internalization (External Issue)

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 Public Administration: Paradigm
The Principles of Administration (1927-1937)

‘Principles of Public Administration’ by W.F. Willoughby (1927)

‘Papers on the Science of Administration’ by Gullick and Urwick
(1937)

Established the Principles of Administration

P O S D Co R B

Planning Organizing Staffing Directing Coordinating Reporting Budgeting

• Public Administration is Focus

• Focus means what of the field i.e. Principles of administration

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 Public Administration: Paradigm

The Challenges (1938-1947)

To challenge Politics/Administration dichotomy

To challenge the principles of administration

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 Public Administration: Paradigm
To challenge Politics/Administration dichotomy

‘Elements of Public Administration’ edited by Fritz Morstein Marx in

1946.
• Administration is basically a value-laden politics
• The decision undertaken by the administrators are always
guided by politics not by individuals’ wills
• The fact of administration is guided by the politics
• The policies formulated by the political values required the
administrators support
The public administration always served the power and powerful
….to help power holders to govern more effectively

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 Public Administration: Paradigm
To challenge the principles of administration

Human behavior is ignored in the principles of administration

The Scholars and their writings to challenge the principles of

Administration:
C.I. Barnard (1938): The Functions of Executives
Herbert A. Simon (1946): The Proverbs of Administration
Herbert A. Simon (1946): The Administrative Behavior
Robert H. Dahl (1947): The Science of Public Administration: Three
Problems

• Universal principles of public administration is not possible

- preeminence in organization
- differences in individual personalities
- differences in social framework
- varied culture
• Decision making is to be the alternative of the principles
• The study of PAD would be limited if it is confined to only the principles.
• Study of PAD only within formal organizations would bound PAD to be more materialistic.
• Study of PAD should be from comparative basis
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 Public Administration: Paradigm

Reaction to the Challenges (1947-1950)

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 Public Administration: Paradigm
Reaction to the Challenges (1947-1950)

The fact of public administration is guided by the behaviour

of politics (Herbert A Simon in Administrative Behavior,
1947)

As a part of the system of governance the administration

behave (David Eston in The Political System, 1953)

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 Public Administration: Paradigm
David Eston’s Political System Model

Process

Input Rule making, Output

Interest articulation Decision
Interest aggregation Rule application Service
Implementation
Rule adjudication

Feedback

Acceptance of the challenges

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 Public Administration: Paradigm

3. Public Administration as Political Science (1950-1970)

• Public Administration has backed to its mother discipline

i.e. Political Science
• The fundamental political precepts especially in American
political science are worthy of democracy, rule of law,
participatory, due process guide the public administration to
work independently

• PAD has lost its focus; i.e. the principles but sustained its locus;
i.e. the institution (bureaucracy)

• Rise of the concept of Development Administration and

Comparative Administration
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 Public Administration: Paradigm
4. Public Administration as Management (1956-1970)

• Public Administration had been Templating in management arena focusing on

human resource management, communication, MIS, leadership, motivation,
budgeting, auditing, productivity and sometimes marketing.

• Public Administration had become a ‘2nd class citizen’ in the field of academic
discipline

• It was losing its identity

• PAD had provide its focus; i.e. the principles but lost its locus; i.e. the
institution

The new focus of PAD is:

“New Public Administration” (1965-70)

3E = Economy + Efficiency + Effectiveness (D. Waldo & Frank J. Martin in Towards
a New Public Administration)
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 Public Administration: Paradigm
5. Public Administration as Public Administration (1970-?)

• Public Administration is neither management nor Political Science

(Luther Gullick concluded); this is public administration.

• Public Administration is public policy. It can’t be dichotomized from

political science.

• Public Administration examines every aspects of government affairs

• Public Administration covers politics, management and beyond these
other spectrum as well.

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 Public Administration: Paradigm

Feedback of the discussion

18
 Thank You

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