Public Administration: Scope

Different Views on the Scope of Public Administration

1. Narrow View:

• Public administration is solely a part of the executive branch.
• Proponents: Simon, Smithburg.

2. Broader View:

• Public administration is related to all three components of government (legislative, executive, and judicial).

3. POSDCORB View (Luther Gulick): A classical view focusing on managerial functions.

• POSDCORB: Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, Budgeting.
• Planning: Ensuring proper resource utilization.
• Organizing: Organizing human resources effectively.
• Staffing: Recruitment, training, and promotion.
• Directing: Directing subordinates.
• Coordinating: Coordination between employees and between higher and lower authorities.
• Reporting: Receiving progress reports from subordinates.
• Budgeting: Managing financial resources of the organization.
• POSTCORB (1971): Added "Evaluating" (E) to POSDCORB.

4. Criticisms of POSDCORB:

• Lacks focus on policy execution.
• Ignores public welfare as a major objective.
• Omits public relations as a crucial aspect.

5. Subject-Matter View (Louis Merriam): Criticizes POSDCORB for neglecting the subject matter.

• Focuses on the services delivered by public administration (e.g., education, health, transportation).
• Merriam's statement: "Public administration is an instrument with two blades, like a pair of scissors. One blade is the knowledge of the field covered by POSDCORB, and the other blade is the knowledge of the subject matter in which these techniques are applied. Both blades must be good to make an effective tool."

6. Public Policy View (Lasswell and Dror):

• Public administration plays a crucial role in policy formulation, execution, and evaluation.
• Civil servants are involved in all stages of policy making, not just execution.

7. Public-Private View:

• Similar View (Classical Thinkers): Gulick, Urwick, Fayol, Mooney, Reiley. Argue that public and private organizations are similar in their need for objectives, human resources, finances, record management, R&D, public relations, and managerial activities.
• Different View (Herbert Simon, Paul Appleby, Peter Drucker): Argue that public and private organizations differ significantly. Key differences include:

  Feature	Public Organization	Private Organization
  Control	Direct political control	No political interference
  Objective	Public welfare	Profit earning
  Time Orientation	Inefficient, Red Tape (delay)	Time-oriented
  Establishment	Based on public demand	Based on cost-benefit analysis

8. Modern View:

• The scope of public administration is variable and changes with the scope and responsibilities of the state. If the scope or responsibilities of the state increase, the scope of public administration will also increase.