CSS Public Administration – Brief Notes

Junaid Alam (44th CTP)

Public Administration Definition:

“Public administration is that part of the science of administration that has to do with
government and thus, primarily concerns itself with the executive branch where the
work of the government is done.” (Gullick)
“Public Administration is the art and science of management as applied to the affairs
of the state”. (Waldo)
Public administration, operationally, is the execution of public policy and
implementation of legislation done by the legislature.
Scope of Public Admin:
Narrow: confined to managerial skills; also called the POSDCORB view.
P – Planning Co – Coordinating
O – Organizing R – Reporting
S – Staffing B- Budgeting
D – Directing
Broad: Includes a study of legislative and judicial branches as well, inasmuch they are
related to the affairs of the executive. Studies Public policy separately from public
admin and proposes a separation between the two.
Contemporary: As a discipline, Public Admin may be divided into Administrative
theory and practice. Highly interdisciplinary – includes inputs from Organizational
theory, political science, behavioral science and philosophies like structuralism etc.
Theory vs. Practice:
The purpose theory is to explain how organizations work. It incorporates complex
details of behavior and overall structure of an organization to explain and predict how
organizations and individuals in them behave.
For this reason, theory is usually not directly related to the responsibilities of public
administrators.
Theory is usually developed by intellectuals and Academics, with little input from
working Public administrators, and is therefore, incomplete or inapplicable in day to
day affairs of administration.
Democracy vs. Bureaucracy:
Democracy is based on the wishes of the people, and does not take into account the
qualifications or merit of a person as far as his rights or representation are concerned.
Bureaucracy is a system of very well defined laws and merit based appointments. A
person is selected on the basis of eligibility and qualifications and works in a given
framework of laws, rules and regulations.
At times. Ensuring merit undermines the principles of democracy, as right to represent
and have political share in the affairs of the state are not related to qualifications or
merit based suitability.
Politics vs. Administration
The sphere of politics is related to policy making, while that of Administration deals
with implementation of that policy.
Democracy requires political control of policy.
Merit requires bureaucratic input in policy making.
Political alignment of bureaucracy is not necessarily a bad thing. When civil servants
agree with the political agenda of a party, they are more likely to perform in that
direction.
Efficiency vs. Equity:
Many a time, ensuring efficiency comes at the cost of equity. Focusing more on one
segment of society, for example, may affect the efficiency of a program, but basic
issues like health and education can only be dealt with through a prism of equity.
Development projects also consider equity as a variable. In execution, however,
efficiency is of foremost consideration.
Core Values of Public Administration:
Transparency Leadership
Accountability Ethics
Professionalism Objectivity
Traditional Public Administration:
Weber – Bureaucracy: Control, monocratic authority, merit, rules and regulations.
Wilson – Politics/Administration dichotomy, but still bureaucracy like structure,
governed by rules and regulations.
Taylor – Scientific Management: extensive work flow management; minimization of
unnecessary movements of the parts involved.
New Public Management:
Focuses on performance rather than rigid adherence to rules and regulations.
Applies market principles of competition and incentive to get civil servants to perform
better.
Decentralization – diffusion of authority into many centers.
Privatization – minimization of costs by outsourcing routine services to private
vendors.
Flexibility – rules and regulations allow for administration on case to case basis.
New Public Service:
Focuses more on the wishes of the citizens and sees civil service as a service provider.
Advocates greater participation of the citizens in the affairs of the government.
Working groups that include civil society representatives, NGOs, think tanks, experts
etc.
Public Service Delivery is the central concept in NPS.
Islamic Concept of Public Administration:
Decisions and appointments to be made on merit.
Public Officials are accountable.
Available to common public.
Justice and Fair play.
Role of Public Administration:
It is the functional face of the government.
It is the instrument of social change and development.
It ensures the continuity of policies of the government.
It facilitates national integration.
It ensures public service delivery, smooth functioning of the society.
 Theories of Public Administration
Bureaucracy:
Proposed as a systematic theory by Max Weber.
Based on the concept of Legal-Rational Authority.
Hierarchical organization
Chain of command – concentration of authority as we go towards higher levels.
Job description – areas of work are formally specified.
Rigid adherence to rules and regulations.
Career progression is based on qualifications and eligibility.
Scientific Management – Taylorism:
Proposed by Frederick Taylor
Focuses on making the workflows as efficient as possible in order to increase
efficiency and productivity.
Standardization is one way to define specific procedures.
Workers should be properly trained in line with the standard workflows.
It has been argued that such standardization dehumanizes workers and adversely
affects the creativity in performing day to day tasks that may actually improve
efficiency and productivity.
Human Relations Approach:
Proposed by Elton Mayo.
Encourages workers’ participation by supporting individual attention and adjustment.
Advocates motivation of workers by taking interest in their specific abilities and talents.
Workplace facilitation – improvement of working conditions.
Network Governance:
Instead of bureaucratic control, or central authority, professes a pluricentric approach.
Based on interaction rather than command.
Instead of authority, based on negotiation rationality – all stakeholders provide input
in decision making.
Compliance with decisions is trust based and not based rather than authority.
Strategic Management:
Decisions are goal based – goals are to be achieved through a strategic chain of
decisions.
Incorporates feedback mechanisms to assess effectiveness of decisions.
Formulation stage – analysis of available resources and environment.
Implementation stage – allocation of resources and execution, feedback.
Examples: SWOT analysis; analysis of core competencies.
Public Choice theory:
An extension of micro-economics and Social Choice Theory.
Govt. Officials are pursuing public as well as private/personal interests.
An organization should ensure that the public and personal interests are aligned to the
greatest extent possible.
Civil servants are budget maximizers – they allocate their personal as well as public
resources to maximize outcomes.
All officials should have a say in decision making – multiple decision centers.
Sphere of the government should be minimal.
Types of Organizational Structures
Bureaucratic
Functional: based on specialty; division of organizations according to functions – all
trying to solve the same problems.
Divisional: Structured according to different products or projects – an overall
specification of mandate (broader than functional structure)
Matrix: Multiple reporting lines and lines of authority; usually used in project
environment; multiple bosses for one official.
Flatarchy: spreads power across multiple positions; instead of vertical, distribution of
responsibilities is horizontal.
Team: various individual competencies come together to achieve a single goal.
Network: consultative and spread horizontally; many stakeholders giving input in
decision making.
Structure of the Federal Government
Executive:
President – PM – PM Office – Cabinet – Establishment Division
| Ministries/Divisions – Attached deptts., autonomous bodies
etc.
Legislative: President – Parliament – Senate/NA – Provincial Assemblies
Judiciary: Supreme Court, High Courts, Federal Shariat Court, Lower Judiciary
Administrative Culture of Pakistan
Hierarchy and rules and regulations (red-tapism)
Centralization of authority
Corruption – abuse of authority
Nepotism/Sycophancy
Gender discrimination/differentiation
Primitive policy making setup
No focus on performance in promotions or appointments
Inter-governmental relations:
Defined mainly by the constitutional bodies as defined and established by the
Constitution of 1973.
Articles 141-144 (mainly specifying the relationships between federal and provincial
governments, with regards to authority of legislation and precedence of federal over
provincial laws)
Art. 153,154 (Council of Common Interests) – established and constituted under the
constitution.
Art. 156 (National Economic Council)
Art. 160 (National Finance Commission)
 Public Policy Planning
Planning: “an organized attempt to anticipate and to make rational arrangement for
dealing with future problems”.
Development Planning: related to the term “development”.
Includes infrastructure development, human development, gender development etc.
Economic Planning: lies at the basis of development planning; focuses on
distribution and appraisal of resources and means to change this distribution; aims at
maximization of production of wealth and to ensure that wealth is equitably distributed.
Administrative Planning: concerned with the means/procedures to achieve
objectives through programming the operations – could be in terms of laws and rules,
personnel management, organization, materials management etc.
Divided into:
Policy Planning: broad decisions, setting of priorities and objectives; usually political
in nature.
Programme Planning: details of projects to achieve policy objectives; done at
management level.
Operational Planning: implementation stage; division of responsibilities;
organizational structure.
Planning Process:
Recognizing the need for planning
Determining the objectives to be achieved
Forecasting the future
Setting priorities (ordering of objectives; immediate vs. long-term goals)
Developing action plans (e.g. Budgeting and HRM)
Implementation
Evaluation – impact studies/surveys
Revising the plan according to the result of the studies
Policy Analysis:
To determine which policy will achieve a given set of objectives.
It may be ANALYSIS OF (existing policies) or ANALYSIS FOR (new policy) – e.g. cost
benefit analysis
Dimensions of Policy Analysis:
From the point of view of EFFECTS – Effectiveness; Unintended Effects; Equity (effect
of different population groups.
From the point of view of IMPLEMENTATION – Cost; Feasibility; Acceptability.
The FIVE-E Approach to Policy Analysis:
Effectiveness (How precisely a policy achieves its intended goals)
Efficiency (At what cost are those goals being achieved?)
Ethical considerations (Whether a policy is contributing to or mitigating economic
imbalances)
Evaluations of Alternatives (What alternative courses of action are available?)
Establishment of Recommendations (What can be learnt from evaluation of
alternatives?)
Policy Evaluation:
The purpose of policy evaluation is to understand the merit, worth and utility of a policy.
It is usually done in three stages:
PLANNING:
 Clarify the policy
 Engage stakeholders
 Assess resources
 Determine Evaluation Questions
 Determine evaluation procedure/questions
 Develop evaluation plan
IMPLEMENTATION:
 Collect data
 Analyze Results
UTILIZATION:
 Interpret results
 Disseminate results
 Apply the findings
Program Evaluation:
Collecting, analyzing and using information to evaluate the effectiveness and
efficiency of a program or a project. It is very specific compared to Policy evaluation.
Sometimes a policy evaluation is broken down into evaluation of programs being run
under a policy.
Program Evaluation Plan:
Identify the purpose of Evaluation
Identify the variables to evaluate
Determine evaluation questions – what aspect of those variables to study?
Decide what information is needed.
Method of data collection and analysis
Timelines
Planning Machinery in Pakistan
A Development Board was established in 1948 which was assisted by a Planning
Advisory Board comprising people from the Private sector.
In 1953 Development Board was re-established as the Planning Board, and later
established as the Planning Commission in 1958.
Planning Commission has four wings: Economic, Technical, Project, Admin.
Provincial Planning and Development Departments
District governments
Public Sector Development Program (PSDP)
Annual Development Program (ADP) at provincial level
National Economic Council (NEC)
Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) monitors the
execution of projects approved by NEC
Central Development Working Party (CDWP): CDWP, which is located at Planning
and Development Division, Planning Commission, Islamabad, is a clearing house for
any provincial project. The technical, financial and economic analyses of various
projects are carried out by the Appraisal & Evaluation, Technical and other related
sections. Projects with individual costs exceeding Rs. 10,000 million are
recommended by the PDWP to the CDWP.

Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP): The Provincial Development

Working Party (PDWP) is a clearing house of development projects sponsored by
various line departments. The PDWP is empowered to sanction projects ranging from
Rs. 200 million to Rs. 10,000 million.

The projects are sent by the administrative departments for approval to the PDWP

Role of International Donors:

International donations are usually coupled with conditions of structural reforms and
focus programs in specific areas, like health and education.
This encourages improvements in already existing policy structures and sectors that
need the most attention.
 Budgeting and Financial Management
Budget is a tool of financial control and management – by controlling the budget
granted to a public sector organization, its operations or ambit can be controlled or
performance can be rewarded or lack of it penalized.
It is also a tool of fiscal policy
By definition, it is the chart of estimates of revenue and expenditure.
Takes into account the financial experience of the past, states a policy for the present
and projects it over the future.
Principles of Budgeting:
Budget should be balanced.
It should be aligned with the strategic objectives/priorities of the government
It should provide estimates on cash basis – as exact estimates as possible.
It should be made on annual basis
Should incorporate the rule of lapse.
Should be monitored/controlled by the Treasury.
Estimates should be on departmental basis.
Should incorporate measures for quality assurance.
Audit and Accounting in Pakistan
Auditor General of Pakistan – a constitutional post. (articles 168, 169)
Accountant General (Treasury – all funds are released by the Accountant General
office)
Types of Budgeting:
Principles upon which a budget is made reflect the priorities and methods of financial
control of the government.
Line-Item Budgeting: Individual financial statements are grouped by cost centres or
departments.
Performance Budgeting: Presents government programs in terms of functions,
programs, projects etc.; provides information about what public service is to be
provided through a certain expenditure.
Program Budgeting: May be considered a subset of performance budgeting;
provides a project/program based break down of finances.
Zero-Base Budgeting: made without reference to the past year budget; Based on
new annually conducted evaluations (e.g. CBA); every request for funds appropriation
should be justified every year, anew; every function of an organization would be
analyzed for needs and costs; is useful in minimizing dead weights.
Budget Process in Pakistan:
Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF) and Public Accounts (Article 78 of Constitution).
Article 73 – Money Bill: NA – Senate – NA – President
Article 77 – Tax only according to the law
Article 80 – Obligate the government to propose a budget before the NA
Article 81 – Charged expenditure
Article 82 – other expenditure
Finance Division, Planning Division (Recurrent Budget, Development budget)
Line Ministries prepare three-year expenditure estimates within the ceilings provided
by the Finance Division.
 Human Resource Management
“The function performed in Organizations to facilitate the most effective use of people
to achieve organizational and individual goals”
Roots in Scientific Management (Taylor) and Human Relations Approach (Elton Mayo)
– this is why it includes both HR training and process optimization as well as HR
facilitation.
Principles of HRM:
Employees are assets (unlike any other asset, employees are appreciating with time,
rather than depreciating)
Policies, programs and practices should be so as to help professional and personal
development of employees.
Workplace management – workplace facilitation; providing a better work environment.
Components of HRM:
Managerial – POSDCoRB
Operational – Employment; human resource development; rewards and incentives
(policy and specification)
Major Functions: Planning; Staffing; Appraisals; Rewards; Development (HRD).
Spoils vs. Merit System:
In spoils system, government jobs are given to supporters and based on popular
action; resources are also distributed on spoils basis, e.g. supporting politicians getting
more funds. It may not be entirely bad, from the point of view of expediting policy
implementation. But gives rise to nepotism and biasness.
Merit system is based strictly on qualification and competition.
Appointments/Promotions are made solely on the basis of performance and suitability
for a job. Periodic appraisals are done to assess suitability and performance.
Personnel Management vs. HRM
Scope of personnel management is limited – workers are viewed as tools; behavior of
the worker has to be molded in accordance with the demands of the organization.
HRM is the developed or sophisticated, holistic form of personnel management.
PM HRM
Works for traditional applications; It is suitable for modern applications;
Routine/operational functions; strategic functions;
Job evaluation as basis of pay; Performance evaluation as opposed to
job evaluation;
management’s role is transactional; management’s role is transformational;
workers are managed collectively individual attention and contracts;
(collective contracts);
piecemeal approach to solving integrated approach to problem solving;
problems;
 concerned more with procedures; according to business needs;
follows the organizational structure organizational structure of teams,
based on division of labor. groups, networks.

Open Vs. Closed Systems of Public Employment

Open systems are sensitive to their environment.
In the context of public employment, an open system would be job specific, focusing
on specialization and public service requirements.
However, an open system will be relatively less stable – it will change with the
changing demands of the environment. But it will be more responsive.
An open system would require regular update and upgradation of job specification or
description.
A closed system would be immune to changes in the environment – jobs would be
task/system based.
Bureaucracies are generally closed systems of employment in that they are internally
stabilized with specific rules and regulations and generally require generalists instead
of specialists.
Generalists bring a uniform administrative point-of-view to any organization they work
for, as compared to specialists who can respond to the environmental demands from
their organizations based on their specialized knowledge.
Closed systems are, however, more stable, in that they are not easily influenced by
the changes of the environment but are less responsive.
HRM in Public Sector – Challenges
Public sector has a tendency towards centralization, which is the opposite of inclusion
and distribution of authority to ensure governance.
Controlled by the state – is coercive by definition. State is used to applying rules in an
indiscriminate way. Law is generally insensitive to market dynamics.
Political interference – no security of tenure to civil servants. Politicians run the affairs
of the executive instead of policy making.
Only cosmetic changes are performed. Structural changes require a holistic reform
and not piecemeal adjustments.
Suggested Measures for HRM Reforms in Pakistan
Strict adherence to merit
Competence based Human Resource Development – trainings should be according
to the needs of the government and appointments should be based on relevant
competencies.
Performance appraisals should be made more objective, should include quantifiable
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Salaries should be market based – commensurate with the responsibility and
competence of a civil servant.
Retention of only essential operations by Civil Servants. All routine/menial functions
should be outsourced.
Tenured Appointments – appointments should be competition based and regularly
appraised to make sure that a civil servant delivers.
Promotions should be performance based and according to the expertise required by
the government and available in the human resource pool.
Instead of unified pay scales (BPS), there should be special pay scales for every
service, according to the hierarchical model of a service.
 Administrative Law
Administrative law may be defined as the body of law that deals with the organization,
powers, duties and functions of public agencies or government departments.
Government agencies are created/established and run through administrative law.
These agencies develop standards and procedures on their own usually. These are
also a part of administrative law.
Administrative law may be made by:
Legislative – for example an act of the parliament to establish a regulatory authority.
Executive – for examples rules and procedures defining the terms and conditions of
government employees etc.
Judiciary – for example in matters where judiciary is adjudicating a matter between
parties concerned with administration (service related issues, or interpretation of the
powers of a regulatory authority under the constitution).
Defining Principles:
 Efficient, economic and just administration
 Encompasses all the functions of the state.
Delegated Legislation:
Transfer of legislative authority to the executive in certain matters. For examples an
act of the parliament will permit the established institution to make its own rules and
procedures to carry out its functions.
Scope and Significance of administrative law:
Methods and procedures of administrative departments.
Organizational structure, powers and functions of government departments.
Remedies for aggrieved persons – both within administration and common populace
who suffers at the hands of administration.
Control/regulation of administrative organizations as well as of the operators in the
market.
Administrative law also reflects the changing/dynamic relationship between the
government and the people – generally, the more the laws, the lesser the freedoms.
For a welfare state, increase in the functions of the state can only be appropriated
inside a framework of administrative laws.
These laws also complement the judiciary – they provide the first mechanism of
remedy against any administrative injustice.
Examples: Civil Servatns Act, 1973; Rules of Business, 1973; Public Procurement
Rules; Recruitment policy notified by the Establishment Division; etc.
Administrative Ethics
Administrative ethics are standards of right and wrong professional behavior.
Public service is a public trust (US Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the
Executive Branch)
They are primarily grounded in duty,
Five sources of values:
Individual – first of all sense of duty and right/wrong comes from within the individual.
Professional – professionally defined good practices and desirable behavior.
Organizational – standards/work flows enshrined in organizational rules and
procedures.
Legal – strict definitions of right and wrong behavior according to the law. (Law is
largely defined by the ethical standards of a society).
Public Interest – considerations of what is beneficial for the public at large also
shapes administrative ethics.
OECD1 Ethics Infrastructure
OECD has provided a guiding framework within which administrative ethics can be
given a practicable shape:
Political commitment – to enforce and uphold high standards of administrative
behavior.
Effective Legal framework – should cover all the aspects of administrative action.
Efficient accountability mechanisms
Workable codes of conduct – applicable to practical situation; clear and unambiguous
Professional socialization mechanisms – to facilitate assimilation of good work ethics.
Supportive Public Service Conditions – public servants deserve ethical treatment as
anybody else.
Central ethics coordination body – to resolve ever-new ethical considerations in the
administrative domain and to oversee the conduct of administrators.
An active civil society – to indicate any breach of ethics and suggest improvements in
frameworks of good conduct over time.
Values for Practitioners
 Honesty  Incorruptibility
 Integrity  Accountability
 Benevolence  Dedication
 Lawfulness  Reliability

1
Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development
  Serviceability  Expertise
 Effectiveness  Impartiality
 Humanness

Civil Servants of Pakistan are governed by Government Servants Conduct Rules.

 Public Management Skills
Planning: one of the most important managerial skill; management largely involves
preparation of policy and actions plans, keeping managerial limitations in mind.
Decision Making: is the execution counter part of planning; requires knowledge of
applicable rules and procedures as well as soundness of character and will power.
Conflict management: could be either HR related or Strategic in nature; making sure
that HR is working in unison and there is no discrepancy between the objectives of the
institution and the outcomes being achieved.
Leadership: includes vision, strategy, human resource development and teamwork.
Communication: both horizontal and vertical – coordination and reporting/receiving
orders.
Administrative Buffering: regulation and/or insulation of the organizational
processes, functions, entities or individuals from the effects of environmental
uncertainty or adversities.

Functional Dysfunctional
Dynamic Adaptation Insularity (excessive
(change in the internal insulation from the
dynamics of the environment, resulting
Insulation
organization according in unresponsiveness)
to the needs of the
environment)
Input/Output Smoothing Imbalance
Smoothing (smooth (lack of flexibility in
functioning of changing output quality
Regulation organization, but not too or quantity)
much reliance on
material or procedural
hoarding)

Change Management: demands on an organization, as well as the environment in

which it operates keeps changing
The Three main elements: Technological evolution; Process reviews; Restructuring
Managing Diversity: ensuring that diverse segments of an organization are integrated
into the organizational processes.
Major elements:
Communication (manager-employee and employee to employee)
Formation of diversity teams/groups
See people as individuals – defined by their competencies, not status, gender etc.
Objective standards of assessment to avoid any biased appraisals of performance.
Stress Management: stress could be either due to the environment or due to the
organization. The reason for stress is a discrepancy between the expected
performance and realized performance. As a manager, should help employees in
overcoming such stress.
Environmental stress: economic, political, technological.
Organizational stress: task demands, role demands.
Delegation: a very important managerial function; more than doing the work himself,
a manager should know how to get work done. This requires assignment of work to
subordinates, to expedite the disposal of work.
Public Service Motivation: occasional motivation of employees to inculcate in them
a sense of pride and responsibility regarding public service.
Creativity and Problem Solving: a manager should be himself creative in his
solutions to problems as well as encouraging of innovative approach to solving
problems by his subordinates.
Issues in Public Management:
Political environment/pressures.
Technological advancements
Equity as a central policy of the government
Transparency
Lack of room for innovation due to archaic rules and regulations
 Civil Service of Pakistan
Civil Service of Pakistan has its roots in Indian Civil Service (ICS).
ICS Officers were given the choice to join as CSP officers.
Initially two All Pakistan Services (APS): CSP and PSP
Other Central Services: Foreign Service (FSP), Central Secretariat Service (CSS),
Financial Services: Audit and Accounts Service (AAS), Railway Accounts Service
(RAS), Military Accounts Service (MAS), Taxation Service, Customs Service, Excise
Other Services: Postal, Pakistan Military Lands and Cantonment Service (PMLCS),
Central Information Service (CIS).
1973 onwards: Civil Service was completely reformed. 12 new occupational groups
were introduced.
PAS, PSP, OMG, FSP, PAAS, ITG (Now IRS), PCS, MLCG, CTG, IG, Postal, RCTG
Initially divided into All Pakistan Unified Grades (APUG) that included PAS, PSP and
Secretariat Group, and Federal Unified Grades (FUG) that included all the other
services.
Main legislation: Civil Servants Act, 1973, under Article 240 of the Constitution of
Pakistan, 1973.
Role of Civil Service in Good Governance:
Civil service is the operational face of the government as well as the first tier of policy
input for the political administrators of the country; focus on following main areas:
Public Service Delivery
Law and Order
Policy making and execution
Gender and Civil Service: civil service can and should play its role for ensuring
gender equality as well as preferential treatment of marginalized segments of society.
 Organization of Provincial Government
Provincial governments are similar in structure to the federal government, but with
lesser bureaucratic tiers.
The provincial secretariat comprises departments instead of Ministries and the
bureaucratic hierarchy goes like this: Secretary  Additional Secretary  Deputy
Secretary  Section Officer.
These departments administer various provincial authorities (e.g. Land Records
Authority (LRA), Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA), Punjab Revenue Authority
(PRA), etc.) and directorates like health and education.
These Authorities and Agencies are responsible for running the line affairs, or in
field affairs of the government. E.g. Police is entrusted with the responsibility of
maintaining law and order; LRA with the responsibility of maintaining computerized
land records; PFSA with carrying out forensic analysis of evidence submitted by the
investigating agencies (e.g. Police).
Departments perform administration of these authorities and agencies. E.g. Police
falls under the administrative domain of Home departments, meaning that postings,
transfers, service rules etc. of the provincial police will be determined by the Home
department.
Post Devolution Local Government: local government legislation has been
devolved to the provinces. Each province can have its own system of local govt.
Constitution of Pakistan makes it mandatory to ensure local self-government rather
than just local government.
Local self-government is local government run or supervised by public elected
representatives rather than government functionaries/bureaucrats.
Functions of Local government: Following functions are generally attributed to local
governments, as they relate to basic services and not to policy level.
Planning/development of local roads, street lights, drains, parks etc.
Public health at local level (Basic Health Units, Family Welfare clinics, etc.)
Waste Management
Registration of Births, deaths and marriages in the area.
Primary Education
Social Welfare projects, like orphanages and protection for widows.
History of Local Governments
Ayub Era: Basic Democracies Ordinance 1959 and Municipal Administration
Ordinance, 1960 formed the legislative basis of the local governments.
Union Council (UC) was the basic unit – members were directly elected and then
elected their own Chairman.
District Councils were divided into Cantonment Boards and Municipal Committees
(Urban Areas), further divided into Union committees.
Tehsil Councils were divided into Town Committees (Urban Areas) and Union
Councils (Rural Areas).
Members of the Union Councils comprised the Electoral College that elected the
President of the Country. (modelled after the presidential system of USA).

Bhutto Era: Urban – Rural divide was kept intact and three tiers of local governments
were as follows:

Urban Rural

Municipal Corporation District Council

Municipal Committee Halqa Council

Town Committee Dehi Council

These reforms were never implemented though.

Zia Era: Local govt. still divided into Rural and Urban areas.
Rural: District Council  Union Council (Tehsil level was abolished)
Urban: Metropolitan Corporation (Big Cities), Municipal Corporation  Municipal
Committees  Town Committees

Musharraf Era: Three Tiers – Zila Council, Tehsil Council, Union Council.
Zila Council headed by a Zila Nazim (Mayor) and the post of Deputy Commissioner
(DC) was abolished, replaced with a District Coordination Officer (DCO) who served
as the secretary of the Mayor.
Police was also taken outside the control of District Management, District Police
Officer (DPO) being the head of district police, who reported to the Mayor as well.
All Nazims of the Union Councils in the district were members of the Zila Council and
the Mayor was indirectly elected. All Nazims and Councilors of UCs were directly
elected. Seats were reserved for women and farmers.
Tehsil Nazim was elected in the same manner. All Vice Chairmen (Naib Nazims) of
UCs were members of the Tehsil Council.
At both levels, reserved seats for farmers, laborers and women, indirectly elected by
all the councilors.
Local Government post-2013: after devolution, provincial governments have the
authority to make local government systems.
Punjab – 5 years term; Sindh and Balochistan – 4 years terms; KPK – 3 years term.
Punjab: Direct election of Councilors and Chairmen/Vice-Chairmen.
Sindh: Indirect election of Chairmen and Vice Chairmen from directly elected
Councilors.
In both Sindh and Punjab, heads of the District Councils are elected by all the
members of the Council.
KPK: Direct election on all seats.
Issues and Challenges in Local Government:
Dependency on provincial governments for funds
No financial autonomy or authority to raise local taxes
Lack of capacity – no focus whatsoever on training of local representatives
Bureaucratic interventions – bureaucrats don’t like the idea of delegating local govt. to
elected representatives.
 Governance and Administrative Reforms
Theoretical foundations of administrative reforms are found in different theories of
administration. E.g. Politics/Administration dichotomy proposed by Woodrow Wilson
would prescribe a certain set of reforms to be undertaken. On the other hand, Weber’s
Bureaucratic structure of administration demands other means of improving
administrative efficiency.
Such reforms mainly fall under the two domains:
Re-engineering the government (based on a structural theory of the government, that
is Public administration is a structure, like society)
Re-inventing the government (based on the governance point of view; has the
objective of changing the very rationale of public administration)
Re-engineering is related to updating the internal processes of the government so
that efficiency of the system may be improved. Optimization of processes through
more appropriate or liberal rules and regulations. The responsibilities of the
government remain more or less the same; however, the means to carry out those
may be improved by employing different approaches, e.g. NPM.
Re-inventing involves a renewed approach to as to what may be the objectives or the
mandate of public administration. E.g. an NPS model may be followed to make public
administration more democratic and responsive in character. Whether the government
should follow a laissez faire model or not is a question in this regard. A govt. supporting
a minimally regulated market will reform its administration accordingly.
Types of Administrative Reforms:
Privatization: such a reform would be motivated by a laissez faire philosophy. Most
services and operations of the government would be privatized in order to minimize
the costs of running the government as well as to achieve better efficiencies and
promote free market competition. E.g. contracting out of civil works; selling of govt.
enterprises to the private sector.
Regulation: The opposite of a free market. Even though markets are largely not
operated by the government itself, they are heavily supervised and controlled to
operate within a defined framework of rules, regulations and even price levels. (Price
controls of vegetables and fruits etc. is an example.)
Regulation may be done in three sectors: Economic, Social and Administrative. (Read:
OECD Whitepaper on Regulatory Reform and Innovation)
De-regulation: The opposite of regulation; minimal oversight of the government on
market phenomena. Government is largely limited to policy making, law and order and
dispensation of justice.
Decentralization: distribution of authority from one center to many. Delegation,
devolution and distribution are various ways of achieving decentralization. The
objective is to improve efficiency as well as to minimize abuse of too much power
concentration.
Partnerships and Collaboration: bringing of public and private sector together.
Mostly seen in instances when funds are provided by one sector and
execution/monitoring is done by the other.
Business Re-engineering: pertains to revising and updating the processes through
which administrative decisions are made, according to the demands of the time and
the problem involved. May include NPM practices like incentives and efficiency as well
as practices like Total Quality Management (TQM) and Micro-management.
Administrative Reform in Pakistan: Privatization, introduction of local governments,
and establishment of authorities and public sector companies have been the most
popular administrative reforms in Pakistan.
However, one very fundamental way in which the administrative structure was
reformed was incorporation of Separation of Powers in the Constitution, which:
 Achieved fixation of responsibility
 Is sort of a delegation of state authority to different organs of the state
Civil Service Reforms were last done in 1973 by Bhutto. No substantial changes in the
civil service have been made since.
 Public Administration Accountability and Control
Public accountability has two facets: answerability and sanction.
Answerability is giving of answer, explanation and justification of one’s actions.
Sanction comes into play when the accountable one is negligent or deviant.
Sanction takes two forms; remedy and punishment.
A citizen wronged by public servant can claim remedy. In a fair system, the delinquent
official also faces punishment for wrong action. The punishment can again be
departmental as well as criminal.
Bureaucratic responsiveness is a good measure or motivator of internal
accountability of bureaucracy, and ensures that administration is responsive to the
demands of the people.
A closely linked concept is that of Representative Bureaucracy: requires that social
groups should have representation in administration.
Accountability and Control: Can be either Internal and/or External. Usually by
internal accountability is meant Control.
Internal: Rules, regulations, Office procedures, supervision by political bosses.
External: Laws, Audit (Financial and Performance), Administrative Tribunals,
Ombudsman
Institutional Framework for Accountability:
Legislative: inasmuch as it makes laws and empowers the executive to make rules
and regulations, it can legislate to exercise its control on administration. Also, political
executive is a part of the legislative, so the former is answerable in the parliament to
the latter.
Executive: Political executive is the head of the administration and serves as the first
check; also upholds the principle of democratic accountability of the Civil Servants.
Judicial: starting from the constitution to executive rules and regulations, finality of
interpretation lies with the judiciary. If there has been an alleged misinterpretation or
mala fide implementation of rules, judiciary can rectify it by its judgments.
Role of Civil Society: spreading awareness; spearheading movements for fairness,
justice and transparency; inculcating respect for law in the people; identifying and
indicating flaws in the system as well as administrative practices; forming public
opinion.
The Situation in Pakistan: Internal and External Audits; Performance Evaluation by
Reporting Officers; Administrative Tribunals (e.g. Service Tribunals like FST);
Ombudsman (deals with grievances of public against public administrators).
 Role of Public Administration in Development
Development is a multi-dimensional process.
Contemporary notion of ‘Development’ is all encompassing – includes infrastructure
development, services mechanisms development, human development, gender
development, Urban/Rural development. Economic development, and even political
and social development.
The process of development also involves institutional and cultural changes – it
includes Public sector, private sector, community, family and individual development.
May be measured through indicators such as Human Development Index (HDI) which
combines different measures like literacy, life expectancy and per capita GDP.
Role of Administration in Development: both at the policy formulation level and
execution level.
Policy level deals with development objectives, which are in turn determined on the
basis of information received from officials working in the field, making it necessary to
obtain administrators’ input in policy making. Only civil servants aware of the various
development aspects would be able to suggest good policy.
At execution level, policies may cause inordinate suffering to some segments of the
society, especially poor people; these considerations are important for public
administrators so that flexibility of a policy can be employed to facilitate the public as
much as possible at the execution level.
Concept of Development Administration:
It has been argued that primary obstacles to development are Administrative and not
Economic.
Development Administration is an instrumental means for defining, consolidating, and
implementing national goals in developing countries.
It indicates an increased responsibility on the civil servants who are responsible for
implementing the development agenda of the political government; implies an
expansion of the government or a tightly supervised execution of development policy.
The concept of a Welfare State is closely related; as the sphere of action of the
government expands, more and more administrative machinery/authority is required
to be exercised.
Types of Development Administration: The concept of development administration
has two major aspects:
Development of administration: This means to develop administration. It involves
strengthening and improving administrative capabilities as a mean for achieving
development goals.
For example, the functions of improving the education of, and imparting training to, the
personal engaged in developmental goals.
Administration of Development: has a key role in implementing the development
programs, projects and policies.
Two main functions: one relates to realizing development goals and objectives and
second is to improving and enhancing capabilities of those involved in development
goals and objectives.
Functions of development administration may be divided into the following six
categories:
1. Formulation of development goals and policies
2. Programme formulation and program project management.
3. Re-organization of administrative structures and procedures.
4. Evaluation of results
5. Ensuring people’s participation in the development effort.
6. Promoting growth of social and political infrastructure.
Development administration focuses on all kinds of development, and its impacts
instead of just infra-structure.
It is directed at progress rather than achievement of static objectives; essentially
strategic in nature.
Aims to find innovative solutions; maximize human development impact of various
development projects.
On policy level, it leaves rooms for future adjustments; for tapping the potential that
will be created by the completion of projects.
Development Management is characterized by a liberal economy, minimal regulation
and reduction of government’s role to a mere facilitator. However, the overall objective
is still the same, i.e. a holistic design and execution of development agenda of a
country.
It is used interchangeably with development administration but implies lesser control
or involvement of the govt. in the market, or execution of the development agenda.
Changing Role of Public Administration in Development: with the rise of the
concept of the welfare state, govt.’s involvement in provision of at least basic services
has become more pronounced.
Increasing population of the world means tremendous pressure on the available
resources. The role of providing for basic amenities like food and shelter has therefore
fallen into the lap of the Government.
There is increasing public demand for development in the various sectors, requiring
the government to intervene continuously.
Only an amply trained and professional public administration can be able to carry out
these interventions.
Issues and Challenges of Public Administration in Pakistan:
1. Lack of professionalism and specialization.
2. Poor quality of public decision-making
3. Lack of effective policies, taking into account the proportionate interests of both
public and private entities;
4. Bureaucratic structure reminiscent of the Colonial era
5. Very little focus on appropriate/suitable professional training
6. Postings/appointments not commensurate with competency of the Civil Servants
7. Lack of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
8. Concentration of power in the bureaucracy; highly regulated markets.
9. Political interference and lack of constitutional safeguards for honest civil servants.

<><><><><><><>