Evolution of Public Administration in Indian Context

Evolution of Public Administration

1. Political Science   MOOC on Administration and Public Policy: Concepts and Theories Module- 2   Evolution of Public Administration

2. Evolution of Public Administration Contents: Evolution 2) Different Phases and Stages of Evolution 3) The Recent Trends in the study of Public Administration 4)Conclusion

3. Evolution: The Beginning Public administration as an academic discipline originated and emerged in the USA . It was the seminal essay entitled ‘The Study of Public Administration’ published in the ‘Political Science Quarterly’ in 1887. It was written by Woodrow Wilson and that is considered to be its symbolic beginning as a field of study.

4. Woodrow Wilson

5. The Phases The evolution of the subject as a specialized field of study can be studied into five phases chronologically:   Stage 1: Politics administration dichotomy (1887-1926)   Stage 2: Principles of administration (1927-1937)   Stage 3: Era of challenge (1938-1947)   Stage 4: Crises of identity (1948-1970)   Stage 5: Public policy perspective (1971 onwards)  

6. Stage 1: Politics Administration dichotomy (1887-1926)   The first stage of evolution of the discipline was the manifestation of Woodrow Wilson’s view of politics - administration dichotomy. Functionally, administration was separated from politics and concerned itself with implementation of policy decisions taken politically.

7. Stage 1: Politics Administration dichotomy (1887-1926)   Beyond this distinction, the institutional locations of these two functions were differentiated. The location of politics was identified as the legislature . The location of administration was accepted as the executive arm of government, the bureaucracy. There must be a separation between Politics and Administration.

8. Stage 2: Principles of administration (1927-1937)   The second stage of evolution was marked by the same fervour of reinforcing the Wilsonian view of public-administration dichotomy. It tried to evolve a value-neutral or rather a value free science of management. The Context of Industrial Revolution demanded for efficiency and higher production which also led to the development of universal principles of management.

9. Era of Principles During this time, the structures and processes of public organizations were put to a serious rigorous analysis. S cientific methods, efficiency and economy of the organizations were given importance. In short, the years 1927-1937 were the golden years of ‘principles’ in the history of Public Administration.

10. Stage 3: Era of challenge (1938-1947)   The advocates of the principles of administration began soon to be challenged and the period from 1938 to 1947 . The principles and iron cage/mechanistic view of administration and workers were challenged during this time. The principal challenge came from Human Relations Theory.

11. Human Relations Theory The famous Hawthorne experiments conducted by Elton Mayo and his colleagues at the Hawthorne Plant of the Western Electric Company Harvard Business School in the late 20’s and early 30’s of the twentieth century shook the foundation of the scientific management school. It demonstrated demonstrating the powerful influence of social and psychological factors on the work situation of the industrial workers.

12. Psychological Man against the Machine The stage was also spearheaded by two significant publications of the 1940s – Herbert Simon’s Administrative Behaviour and Robert Dahl’s essay entitled The Science of Public Administration: Three Problems . Dahl spoke against the ‘machine’ concept of organization and argued that the study of administration must embrace the whole psychological man.

13. Stage 4: Crises of identity (1948-1970)   This period has been one of crisis of identity for Public Administration . Thus grew a need to reinvent public administration and lead to a question as to whether public administration that had been known as it is till then was relevant anymore.

14. Rise of New Public Administration So, Public Administration, naturally, was in search of an alternative and the alternative was available in the form of administrative science. Thus was born the concept of Dwight Waldo’s ‘New Public Administration’ from the First Minnowbrook Conference in 1968. Actually, the term New Public Administration found circulation with two publications in 1971.

15. Features of the New Public Administration Relevance: There had been renewed emphasis on being relevant to the societal problems. Values: New Public Administration brought values back into the realm of Public Administration.

16. Main Themes Equity: The performance of Public Administration was to be judged not in terms of growth but it had to be sensitive to the aspect of equity . Change : As opposed to status quo, the new Public Administration emphasized change.

17. Stage 5: Public Policy Perspective (1971 onwards)   Despite the uncertainty and turmoil of the preceding period, Public Administration did register progress and entered the 1970s with an enriched vision. At this stage, Public Administration began to draw on a variety of disciplines such as Political Science, Sociology and Economics.

18. Public-Policy Aspect The discipline gradually and progressively has drifted more towards social problem-solving and has been focusing on the dynamics of administration. In the late 1980s, there was emergence of New Public Management . New Public Management treats individuals as "customers" or "clients" (in the private sector sense), rather than as citizens.  

19. Recent Trends Public - Private Partnership Movement towards political economy: New emerging goals of Public Administration:

20. New Trends Human Relations approach in Public Administration People's participation decision making These trends have enriched the study of Public Administration.

21. Conclusion Under Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG), the bureaucracy of a country has to play an open and competitive role. Under these new reforms Public Administration has to play the role of an enabler, collaborator and facilitator.