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Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature
Technical Report · July 2020
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.33704.80641
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Ishwor Thapa
Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature
Ishwor Thapa
MPA Student, Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Balkhu, Kathmandu
Summary:
This article tries to analyze the meaning and scope of public administration. Public
Administration is the detailed a systematic execution of public law. Every particular application
of law is public administration. Public administration is a cooperative effort of a group of people
in pursuit of common objective in the process of managing public affairs. Public administration
has been used in two senses- narrower sense (view of traditional writers) and wider sense (view
of modern writers). In narrower sense public administration includes the activities of only
execution. “Public administration is an instrument with two blades like a pair of scissors. One
blade may be knowledge of the field covered by POSDCoRB, the other blade is knowledge of
the subject matter in which these techniques are applied. Both blades must be good to make an
effective tool”.
Meaning of Public Administration:
Public administration is formed by two different terms, public and administration. The term public
means government which is mainly focus on government activities and actions. Whereas the term
administration is derived from a Latin word “Administer” which means to serve, too direct, to
control, to care for or to look after people. Literally, the term “administration” means
management of public or private affairs. Hence, simply public administration is known as the
management of public affairs. It looks after the affairs of the people and provides services to them.
Here the main concern is public administration. Public Administration is the implementation
of government policy and also an academic discipline that studies this implementation and
prepares civil servants for working in the public service. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse
scope" whose fundamental goal is to "advance management and policies so that government can
function. Public administration is "centrally concerned with the organization of government
An Article “Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature”
Ishwor Thapa
Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
policies and programs as well as the behavior of officials (usually non-elected) formally
responsible for their conduct". Many unelected public servants can be considered to be public
administrators, including heads of city, county, regional, state and federal departments such as
municipal
budget
directors, human
resources (HR)
administrators, city
managers, census managers, state mental health directors, and cabinet secretaries. Public
administrators are public servants working in public departments and agencies, at all levels of
government.
Definition of Public Administration:
Simply, the public administration is defined as the study of government affairs. To know the
answer of the questions like, what is public administration, which dimension and scope it includes,
it is necessary to analysis the view and opinion of some scholars of Public administration.
1. Public Administration is the detailed a systematic execution of public law. Every particular
application of law is public administration.
-Woodrow Wilson (1887)
2. Public administration is the action part of government, the means by which the purposes and
goals of government are realized.
-John J. Corson and J.P. Harris
3. Public administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose of fulfillment
or enforcement of public policy.
-L.D. White
4. Public administration is that part of science of administration which has to do with government
and thus concerned itself primarily with the executive branch where the work of government
is done through there are obviously problem connection with legislative and judicial branches.
-Luther Gulick
5. Public administration in all modern nations is identified with the executive branch of
government. It includes the shaping of policy on the way up, execution of policy after it has
been made, and as a necessary part of the execution, decision making about policy matters on
the way down.
-James W. Fesler and Donald F. Kettl (1996)
6. Public administration is concerned with the management of public programs.
An Article “Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature”
Ishwor Thapa
Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
- Robert B. Denhardt (1995)
7. Public administration is the use of managerial, political, and legal theories and processes to
fulfill legislative, executive, and judicial governmental mandates for the provision of
regulatory and service functions for the society as a whole or for some segments of it.
-David H. Rosen bloom and Robert S. Kravchuk (1997)
8. Public Administration may be defined as all processes, organizations, and individuals acting
in official positions and roles associated with carrying out laws and other rules adopted or
issued by legislatures, executives, and courts (many activities are also concerned with
formulations of these rules).PA is also a field of academic and community study and
professional training leading to public service careers at all levels of government.
-Milakovich and Gordon
9. Public administration:
(a) Is the non-political bureaucracy operating in a political system?
(b) Deals with the ends of the state, the sovereign will, the public interest and laws,
(c) Is the business side of government and as such concerned with policy execution, but it is
also concerned with policy making?
(d) Covers all three branches of government, although it ends to be concentrated in the
executive branch,
(e) Provides regulatory and service functions to the people in order to attain good life,
(f) Differs significantly from private administration, especially in its emphasis on public and
interdisciplinary in nature as it draws upon other social science like political science,
economics and sociology.
-S.P. Naidu
10. Public administration:
(a) is a cooperative group effort in a public setting;
(b) covers all three branches –executive, legislative, and judicial-and their interrelationships;
(c) has an important role in the formulation of public policy, and is thus part of the political
process;
(d) is different in significant ways from private administration; and
(e) is closely associated with numerous private groups and individuals.
An Article “Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature”
Ishwor Thapa
Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
-Felix A. Nigro and Lloyd G. Nigro (1989)
Thus, public administration is a cooperative effort of a group of people in pursuit of common
objective in the process of managing public affairs. Analysis of the above definition includes that
the term public administration has been used in two senses- narrower sense (view of traditional
writers) and wider sense (view of modern writers). In narrower sense public administration
includes the activities of only execution.
Scope of Public Administration:
Public administration is an evolving applied social science. It is still in the process of evolution.
Hence, the scope of public administration is not completely clear and realized. However, it is
obvious that public administration is an activity done by the human beings for human beings living
in the society. As in the case of its definition there is also argue over the scope of public
administration between the traditional and modern views of the followers.
1 . Traditional view:
The traditional writers restricted the scope of public administration to the executive branch of
government only. In narrow sense public administration covers the primarily the organization,
personnel, practices and procedures essential to effective performance of the civilian functions
entrusted to the executive branch of the government.
2 . Modern view:
The modern writers have extended the scope of public administration to all the three branches
of government, according to them; public administration is the whole government in action. In
a democracy all major administrative policies from the legislative in the form of laws and the
legislature also exercise control over administration with the view to see that the policies are
implemented as it intends. The judiciary has the power to restrain public administration from
the unconstitutional, illegal and arbitrary acts. Therefore, all three branches of government are
part of the study and practice of public administration.
By the scope of public administration, we mean the major concern of public administration; as
an activity and as a discipline.
1 . as an activity
An Article “Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature”
Ishwor Thapa
Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Broadly speaking, Public Administration embraces all the activities of the government. Hence
as an activity the scope of public administration is no less than the scope of state activity. In
the modern welfare state people expect many things –a wide variety of services and protection
from the government.
Several writers have defined the scope of public administration in varying terms.
Luther Gulick has given the elements of administration as an activity in the acronym that is
POSDCoRB which means:
P= Planning,
O= Organizing
S= Staffing
D= Directing
C= Coordinating
R= Reporting and
B= Budgeting.
According to Gulick the POSDCoRB activities are common to all organizations. They are the
common problems of management which are found in different agencies regardless of the
nature of the work they do. POSDCoRB gives unity, certainty, and definiteness and makes the
study more systematic.
This element is not enough as scope of public administration. The scope of public
administration as activity (wider or narrower) depends upon the state activities. In the modern
welfare state (especially in developing countries) people expect many things from the
government. Public administration of a welfare state provides a number of welfare and social
security services to the people and public administration has to perform regular activities of
the state as like to take care of private sector and corporate organization as well as activities of
NGO/INGO. Public administration covers every area and activity of government. In this sense
it includes all operations of exploration of outer space to sweeping the streets.
2 . as a discipline
We all know that public administration deals not only with the processes but also with the
substantive matters of administration, such as Defense, Law and Order, Education, Public
Health, Agriculture, Public Works, Social Security, Justice, Welfare, etc. These services
An Article “Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature”
Ishwor Thapa
Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
require not only POSDCoRB techniques but also have important specialized techniques of
their own which are not covered by POSDCoRB techniques.
For example, if you take Police Administration it has its own techniques in crime detection,
maintenance of Law and Order, etc., which are much and more vital to efficient police work,
than the formal principles of organization, personnel management, coordination or finance and
it is the same with other services too.
Therefore, the study of public administration should deal with both the processes (that is
POSDCoRB techniques and the substantive concerns).
The scope of public administration as a discipline (subject matter); i.e., particular subject of
study in public administration are:
Public Administration compromises of the following elements
 Organization

Management of personnel

Method and procedure.

Public Finance

Administrative Accountability
Organization
This involves the Structuring of individuals and functions in to productive relationship. It
represents the Static part of the administration. It is called as the anatomy of public
administration.
Management of Personnel
This is concerned with the direction of individuals and functions to achieve the
predetermined ends. It represents the dynamic aspect of Administration and it may be
called the Physiology of administration.
Method and Procedure
This represents the technique of administrating, the process of working, and the law of
administration.
Material and supply
This includes the tools with whose help the administrative Work is carried on.
Public Finance
An Article “Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature”
Ishwor Thapa
Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
This is the material without which Personnel cannot be employed and work cannot be
performed. This is the chief determining factor in public Administration, in fact, in the
whole government, as the efficiency and the prestige of the administration depends upon
it.
Administrative Accountability
This is the accountability of the administration both in terms of internal Control as well as
external responsibility to the judiciary, the legislative and the People.
We can conclude that the scope of public administration with the statement of Lewis Meriam:
“Public administration is an instrument with two blades like a pair of scissors. One blade may
be knowledge of the field covered by POSDCoRB, the other blade is knowledge of the subject
matter in which these techniques are applied. Both blades must be good to make an effective
tool”.
Nature of public administration:
There are two broad views regarding the nature of public administration. The integral view and
the managerial view;
1. The Integral view
According to this view, administration is the sum of total activities- manual, clerical, technical,
managerial etc, which are under taken to realize the objectives. This view believes that public
administration comprises all types of operations undertaken by all persons ranging from the
lowest to the highest in order to implement public policies. Supporter of this views are
Woodrow Wilson, Marshal Dimock, John Piffnner, L.D. White etc.
2. Managerial View
According to this view, administration comprises the work of only those people who are
engaged in performing managerial functions in an organization. If we take a managerial view,
public administration focus principally on the planning, organizing, directing, controlling and
coordination of governmental operations. Managerial view believes in getting the things done,
not doing things. Luther Gulick, Henry Fayol, Robert Dhal, Herbert Simon etc support this
view.
Is Public Administration Science or Arts?
An Article “Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature”
Ishwor Thapa
Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
At a first glance it seems easier to accept public administration as an art. It is just the
administration of Government affairs and for most part it does not follow the laws of Science
like absence of normative value, predictability of behavior and universal application. So, does
that mean we cannot list it into a respectable category of scientific subjects?
There are many authors who ferociously defended it and argued that public administration as
an area of study is indeed a Science. The earliest of them was Lorenz von Stein an 1855, a
German professor from Vienna who said that public administration is an integrated Science
and viewing it just as administrative laws was a restrictive definition. In modern times,
categorizing public administration as Science found favor with many, the most important one
being the father of American public administration, President Woodrow Wilson. We shall read
more about the Wilsonian view of public administration in the next article, however he mainly
emphasized that the objective of administrative study is to discover what government can
properly and successfully do and how it can do those things with utmost efficiency with least
possible cost of money or energy.
After Wilson another important argument came from Frederick Taylor who wrote a book called
The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) in which he proposed to discover one best
way of doing things/operation and thus save on cost on time and energy. Luther Gulick and L
Urvick collectively published, Papers on the Science of Administration which reaffirmed its
status as a Science. W F Willoughby stated that public administration like Science has
certain fundamental principles which can be generally applied and therefore it is a
Science.
However, there still remain certain aspects to be established before public administration can
be actually and in real terms, be classified as a Science. The places of normative values in
public administration should be clearly defined. More efforts should be put in to understanding
the human nature and dynamics at play in public administration. Lastly, the principles of public
administration should derive references from across the worlds, cultures, type of states etc. to
make them more universal and free of cultural, religious and political biases.
The advent of the modern welfare state itself has added, to the changing approach to public
administration. The kind of activities and sphere of works have never been more varied and
dynamic and there has been a never before interest in actually improving the efficiency of the
government.
An Article “Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature”
Ishwor Thapa
Public Administration Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Subject matter experts like Frederick Taylor have opened ways to exploration,
experimentation, observation, collection of data and analysis based on which principles and
laws can be made. There are increasing number of authors like Metcalfe, Fayol, Emerson,
Follett, Mooney, and more recently Drucker etc who have written on the subjects of
administration. In-fact Drucker wrote a book called “The Age of Discontinuity” and one of the
chapters of the book called The Sickness of Government became the basis of the New Public
Management theory popular in 1980s which emphasized the market oriented management of
the public sector.
So, one can safely say that with the changing times and more and more studies carried out in
the field of social sciences, administration and human relations, the subject of public
administration can no longer take the shelter of art and would have to emerge stronger with
relevant and fundamental principles like that of Science.
References:
1. Shrestha Tulsi Narayan (2007), Public Administration Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.
2. Bhatta Bhim Dev (2065) Sarbajanik Prashan ko Adhabhut Siddhanta, America: Shree
Asisdev Bhatta
3. https://www.managementstudyguide.com/
4. Wilson, W. (1887). The study of administration. InR. J. Stillman, II. Public administration:
Concepts and cases, 6-17.
5. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary
6. Denhardt, Robert B. and Joseph W. Grubbs, 2003, Public Administration: An action
Orientation, Fourth Edition, Thomson (Wadsworth), Canada.
7. http://www.markedbyteachers.com/university-degree/social-studies
8. https://www.managementstudyguide.com/public-administration
An Article “Public Administration: Meaning, Scope and Its Nature”
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