Historical Evolution of Public Administration as a Field of Study

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Lecture 3

• Historical Evolution of Public Administration as
  a Field of Study

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I. The Beginning Woodrow Wilson

• The Study of Administration (1883)
• It is getting harder to run a constitution than
  to frame one. (15)
• Politics and administration dichotomy (20)
• - Politics expression of public will
• - Administration execution of such wills
• Separation of politics and administration
• Partisan politics
• Make government business less unbusinesslike (16)
• Administration as a field of business with
  management focus (20)
• Reliance on a comparative method (25)
• Efficiency, economy, and productivity

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Paradigm I Politics and Admin Dichotomy

• Two distinct functions of government
• Politics expression of public will (policies)
• Administration execution of such wills
• Separation of power and functions
• Policy instruments of politicians
• There is no Republican way to build the road
• Focus on the work of public bureaucracy
• Fact not value laden

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Paradigm II Science of PA 1927-1937

• Scientific principles of administration
• Growing government institutions
• PA as experts
• Apply administrative principles to various
  settings
• Generic management
• Administrative principles are applicable anywhere
  regardless of cultural differences
• POSDCORB (Planning, Organizing, Staffing,
  Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, and
  Budgeting)

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The Challenge, 1938-1947

• Demurring the dichotomy
• Value free versus value laden politics
• Naive distinction
• Politics and administration could never be
  separated
• PA make political decisions and public policies
• Puncturing the principles
• No such things as administrative principles
• Conflicting principles
• Hierarchy and span of control

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Paradigm III, PA as Political Science, 1950-1970

• Establish linkages between PA and political
  science
• PA as part of policymaking process
• Politics of public budgeting
• Relationships between bureaucrats and legislators
• PA and public interests
• PA program resides within political science
  department

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Paradigm IV, PA as Management, 1956-1970

• Based on Wilsonian thinking
• Politics and administration dichotomy
• PA as part of management field
• Administrative science or generic management
• Administration of public and private agencies are
  similar
• Concerned with efficiency, productivity, and
  effectiveness
• False distinction of public, private
• Organizational studies

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The Force of Separatism, 1965-1970

• Growing sense of unity and pride among public
  administrators
• The Great Society programs
• PA as a profession
• The National Academic of Public Administration
• The New Public Administration Movement
• Moral Tone
• Ethical considerations of PA

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Paradigm V, Public Administration as Public
Admininistration,1970-

• Growing number of separate public administration
  programs
• Interdisciplinary field of study
• Draw on other disciplines law, management,
  political science, business, sociology,
  psychology.
• NASPAA National Associations of School of Public
  Affairs and Administration
• Autonomous academic field

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Ideological Context of American PA

• Individualism
• Capitalism
• Individual Rights, including Freedom of Speech,
  Press, and Religion
• Equality
• Majority rule versus minority rights
• Government-Anti-Government Feelings

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Group Exercise

• School administrators
• 100 tickets to Washington D.C.
• Visit the Whitehouse and Congress
• Decide what to do with these tickets
• Criteria of your decision
• Think of different ways to distribute or make use
  of them