PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Administration is a cooperative human action with a high degree of rationality. Administration occurs when two or more persons agree to perform a task in order to achieve an objective or goal.
Simon et al. defined administration simply as “when two men cooperate to roll a stone that neither could have moved alone, the rudiments of administration have appeared” the first ingredient of administration is people. People have to be present before administration can take place. The second ingredient of administration is action. People have to be involved in a sort of activity – for example concerning rolling a stone, the people must get involve in a sort of action to move the stone, it is then that one can say administration has occurred.

The third ingredient is interaction people must combine their efforts in one way or the other to achieve the accomplishment of a given task. Administration therefore involves people, action, and interaction. It is a process involving human beings jointly engaged in working toward common goals. Administration is a universal phenomenon, as a concept and as a process, it can be said to exist in government, in business, in families and in other group interactions.
The focus of this section is on the public sector (i.e. the concern with administration in government).

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

1.  explain what is meant as Public Administration 
2. describe the major theories, function and processes of Public Administration. 

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 What is Public Administration?

At its fullest range, public administration embraces every area and activity governed by public policy.

The central idea of public administration is rational action. Rational action is defined as action correctly calculated to realize given desired goals. Therefore, public administration both as a study and as an activity is intended to maximize the realization of goals. Public administration is said to be difficult to define. Yet some attention to definition is important. It is necessary to establish the general boundaries and to convey the major concerns of the discipline, and practice of public administration. And again, the definition of public administration helps to place the field in a broader, political, economic, and social context.

Efforts at defining the concept of public administration have produced the followings: “Public administration is the action part of government, the means by which the purposes and goals of government are realized” – Woodrow Wilson (1887).
“Public administration is the organization and management of men and materials to achieve the purpose of government” – Dwight Waldo (1948).

“By public administration is meant in common usage, the activities of the executive branches of national, state and local governments, independent boards and commissions set up by the congress and state legislatives; government corporations, and certain agencies of a specialized character” – Simon et al.
“Public administration is the accomplishment of politically determined objectives” – M. E. Dimock and G. O. Dimock.
“Public administration is the means by which the purposes and goals of government are realized” – Corson and Harris.

It follows from these definitions that public administration is an activity that has to do with politics and policy-making. Its locus is the governmental bureaucracy, and is therefore seen as the machinery for implementing governmental policy. It covers all the three branches of government; the executive, legislative, and judiciary and their interrelationships.
The scope of public administration in its broadest form will include policy analysis, the identification of options, programme implementation and a constant pre-occupation with the efficient allocation of resources.
The purpose of public administration is to promote a superior understanding of government and its relationship with the society it governs, as well as to encourage public policies more responsive to social needs and to institute managerial practices attuned to effectiveness, efficiency, and the deeper human requisites of the citizenry.

3.2 Approaches to the Study of Public Administration

There are namely three approaches to the study of public administration.
(1) Legal – historical approach
(2) Structural – descriptive approach
(3) Behavioural approach

1. Legal – historical approach looks at the formal relationship among the levels of government. Federal – state and local governments. 
2. Structural – descriptive approach emphasizes the relevance of business methods and motivations for public administration. This approach restricts the field of study to organization and personnel management. 
3. Behavioural – approach is concerned with the systematic study of human behaviour in an organization. The analysis of the behaviour of individuals and group is the focus. (groups in organizations, motivation, leadership style, etc.) 

3.3 Functions of Administration

All administrative work involve, planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Each of these functions requires decisions. Decision making is the means by which administrators plan, organize, lead and control. It is defined as the selection of a preferred course of action from two or more alternatives.

Two types of decision have been identified.

(i) Decision concerning the ends (that is the goals).
(ii) Decision concerning the means (that is the methods).

The decision concerning ends has to do with the basic goals/objective of the organization, and it involves value judgment as to what they should be. The decision concerning the means relates to the selection of alternatives courses of action that will lead to the attainment of specified goals.
The alternatives are usually selected on the basis of rationality. For a decision-maker to be rational, he must conform to the following steps in decision-making process.

Steps in the Decision-Making Process

1.  Ascertain the need for a decision 
2. Establish decision criteria 
3. Allocate weights to criteria 
4.  Develop alternatives 
5.  Evaluate alternatives 
6.  Select the best alternative 

Step 1: Ascertain the need for a Decision

The decision-making process starts by determining that a problem exists. (Identification of the problem)
Step 2: Establish Decision Criteria
After identifying the problem, the administrator must establish decision criteria. This requires identifying those characteristics that are important in making the decision.
Step 3: Allocate Weights to Criteria
The list of criteria is prioritized at this stage. Each criterion need to be weighted to reflect its importance in the decision.
Step 4: Develop Alternatives
The administrator develops a list of the alternatives that may be viable in dealing with the stated problem.
Step 5: Evaluate alternatives
Once the alternatives have been enumerated, the administrator must critically evaluate each of the alternatives listed to determine their strengths ad weaknesses.
Step 6: Select the best Alternative

This is the final step and it involves the selection of the best alternative, which has quantitatively been determined. Functions of administration listed earlier; planning, organization, leading and controlling, therefore involves taking decision.
Planning - is determining in advance of the objectives to be accomplished and the means by which these objectives are to be attained.

Planning begins with the establishment of objectives “where you are going”. Hence, objectives need to cover economic, service, and social dimensions of the organization and set the parameters by which administrators can determine if the ongoing activities of members are making positive contributions to the organization.
Organizing – This is the establishment of relationships between the activities to be performed, the personnel to perform them, and the physical factors that are needed.

Leading – Basically, leading consists of supervision, motivation, communication, bringing about change, and managing conflict within the organization. An essential ingredient for these tasks is effective leadership.
Controlling – The administrator here, reviews, regulate, and controls performance to ensure that it conforms to certain standards. In the control function, performance is measured, compared to standards (which would have been set during planning) and should there be significant deviations, corrective actions are instituted.
Decision-making and the activities of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are what differentiate administrators from non-administrators.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

Define Public Administration and explain various approaches to its study.

3.4 Theories of Administration

Organizations are a major part of our environment. We are born in organizations, educated by organizations, and we spend most of our times working for organizations. Organizations are social units (or human groupings) deliberately constructed and reconstructed to seek specific goals (Amitai Etzioni).

Organizations:

1. are purposeful, complex human collectivities; 
2.  are characterized by secondary (or impersonal) relationships; 3. have specialized and limited goals; 
3.  are characterized by sustained cooperative activity; 
4.  are integrated within a larger social system; 
5.  provide services and products to their environment; 
6.  are dependent upon exchanges with their environment. 

Organizations are characterized by:

1. division of labour, power, and communication responsibilities, divisions which are not random or traditionally patterned, but deliberately planed to enhance the realization of specific goals;
2.  the presence of one or more power centers which control the concerted efforts of the organization and direct them toward its goals; these power centers also must review continuously the organization’s performance and re-pattern its structure, where necessary, to increase efficiency; 
3.  substitution of personnel, that is, unsatisfactory persons can be removed and others assigned their tasks. Organization can also recombine its personnel through transfer and promotion. 

The search for greater effectiveness and efficiency in organizations gave rise to the classical theory of administration. Essentially, classical theory was developed in three streams, scientific management, administrative theory, and bureaucracy.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this Unit, you have examined in details the term public administration. You have learnt about the functions of an administrator, and examined what an organization is and its defining characteristics. The Unit also looked at the various theories of administration beginning from the classical theory to the behavioural school of thought. You would have also learnt about the Nigerian civil service

5.0 SUMMARY

From the classical to human relations and behavioural approaches to the study of administration, theorists have placed emphasis on the proper coordination and management of human and material resources in order to achieve organizational goals. The Nigerian civil service which has evolved from the British system is the state vehicle for implementing developmental policies and achieving the goals of each government, such as; the creation of new economic and political structures and infusing them with values and purposes, the adaptation and reconstruction of old values and the acceleration of economic and social changes, designed to reduce unemployment, increase social products, and ensure a more equitable distribution of income.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1.  What do you understand by the term “Public Administration”? ii. What is Organization? What are its characteristics? 
2.  Enumerate the steps in the decision-making process. 
3. What are the major characteristics of the Weber’s bureaucratic Model? 
4.  Examine the assumed role of managers under theory X and theory Y. 
5. Enumerate the functions of the civil servants