PS2240 Introduction to Public Administration

Lecture One

What is PA?
The problem of how people are to be educated or trained for participating in public administration.is one that can be solved only after a decision as to what, after wall, is meant by public administration.. -- Dwight Waldo in The Study of Public Administration (1955)

What is PA?
1
2 3

PA is administration.
PA is public. PA is an art (of practice)

4
5

PA is a (social) science.
PA evolves over time.

1. PA is administration.

Administration
A type of cooperative human effort that has a high degree of rationality (Waldo, 1955).

Dwight Waldo (1913-2000) Source: http://polt906f07.wikispaces.com/Waldo,+Dwight

Administration
Rational action action correctly calculated to realize given desired goals with minimum loss to the realization of other desired goals

Dwight Waldo (1913-2000) Source: http://polt906f07.wikispaces.com/Waldo,+Dwight

Administration
Human behavior is intendedly rational, but only limitedly so (Simon, 1957).

Herbert Simon (1916-2000)

Source: NobelPrize.org at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureate s/1978/simon-autobio.html

Administration
Nonrational actions irrational component in human psychologyare also important.

Dwight Waldo (1913-2000) Source: http://polt906f07.wikispaces.com/Waldo,+Dwight

Administration
Nonrational factors are not working against organizational goals, but they can be directed toward the realization of goals--- (Waldo, 1955).

Dwight Waldo (1913-2000) Source: http://polt906f07.wikispaces.com/Waldo,+Dwight

Administration
Organization: the structure of authoritative and habitual personal interrelations Management: action intended to achieve rational cooperation in an administrative system.

Dwight Waldo (1913-2000) Source: http://polt906f07.wikispaces.com/Waldo,+Dwight

2. PA is public.

What makes PA public?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Goals externally determined. Public goods (nonrivalrous, nonexcludable) Monopoly (Not competitive) Primary performance criteria not profits Higher social scrutiny Legal foundation Limited freedom of action Things that the government does---?

Is this public?

Source: Singapore Police Force at http://www.spf.gov.sg/

Is this public?

The Singapore Government is looking forward to working with private sector partners to capitalise on its full potential.

Source: Singapore Sports Council at http://www.ssc.gov.sg/publish/Corporate/en/industry/sportshub.html

Public-Private Partnership (PPP)

With PPP, the public sector will move away from owning and operating facilities, to purchasing services directly from the private sector (Ministry of Finance, Singapore, 2004).

And many more types of PPP

Public Administration < Governance

Governance consists of the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. This includes the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced; the capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies; and the respect of citizens and the state for the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them.
Source: World Banks Governance Indicator Website at http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.asp

3. PA is an art.
PA refers to those activities undertaken by public administrators in a country to ensure the attainment of organizational goals. (Quah, 1981)

3. PA is an art.
A central concern is how to run government efficiently or how to manage daily government activities within the legal framework.

Mesopotamia (ca. 35,00 BCE)

The Sumerians developed writing as a means of documenting governmental transactions (Faxio, Moffett, Wodehouse, 2009). The earliest writing was based on pictograms. Pictograms were used to communicate basic information about crops and taxes. (The British Museum, http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/writing/home_set.html)

2. PA is a (social) science.

Logical Positivism
The goal of scientific research is to identify law-like regularities.

Law-Like Regularities
Science concerns how independent variable (X) determines the characteristic or occurrence of another factor (the dependent variable = Y)

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Which one is the dependent variable?

Does bureaucracy improve government efficiency? Do meritocracy principles improve administrative effectiveness? Does public participation improve accountability? Does the degree of corruption depend on the level of compensation for civil servants?

Logical Positivism
Theoretical hypotheses must be validated experimentally. Facts must be collected by impartial observers in an objective manner.

Science must be systematic.

a method for seeking out and analyzing information in a systematic and unbiased manner
-- Hellriegel, Slocum, and Woodman (1992).

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Rationality in both types

Public administration as art (creative activity) managers and administrators calculate the means to maximize public (or their) goals. Public administration as a study continuous calculation of the means by which public goals, e.g., efficiency, may be maximized.

Can they get along?

5. PA evolves.
Administration has been studied in every age and at every stage of history, but with great variation in means, intensity, and awareness. -- Dwight Waldo in The Study of Public Administration (1955)

The evolution of American PA.

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)

Source: Wilson, W. (1887). Study of administration. Political Science Quarterly, 2(2), 197-222

Progressive Era
(1890s-1920s)

There is no republican way to build a road a progressive reformer

Scientific Movement
Taylors Principles of Scientific Management (1911) Positivism gained ascendancy among scientists (1870s-1900s.) Development of statistical software/approaches.

Frederick Winslow Taylor (18561915)

Leonard D. White
(1891 1958)

White wrote the first PA textbook (1926) from the perspective of management. The purpose of administration is to achieve the most efficient utilization of human and material resources. It is important for the PA to become a science (facts, no values); politics = values.

Attack on Scientific Approach (1940s-)

Paul H. Appleby (1949) the politics administrative dichotomy is a self-imposed myth the order of any decision is always subject to political determination

Paul Henson Appleby (1891-1963), with Indian Prime Minister Nehru in India in 1954. Source: Maxwell School website: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/alumni.aspx?id=277

On politics-admin dichotomy
A great deal (but not all) of the controversy over whether public administration is a science or an art stemmed from failure to agree on which public administration was being discussed, the discipline or the activity.
Dwight Waldo (1913-2000) Source: http://polt906f07.wikispaces.com/Waldo,+Dwight

PA is not a pure but applied science.

Pure science A is followed by B
Applied science If it is desired to achieve X, then Y should be done. carries values. questions logical positivism.
Dwight Waldo (1913-2000) Source: http://polt906f07.wikispaces.com/Waldo,+Dwight

Minnowbrook Conference III in 2008

The Future of Public Administration, Around the World Phase two -- 220 scholars and practitioners from 13 different countries.
Photo from the Minnowbrook Conference center website: http://www.minnowbrook.org/

What is PA?
1
2 3

PA is administration.
PA is public. PA is an art (of practice)

4
5

PA is science.
PA evolves over time.

What is PA to us?

Module Outline
Definition of Public Administration
Output, Outcome, and Performance

Bureaucracy
Decentralization

New Public Management

Accountability

Module Outline
Ethics and Responsibility
Representation

Public Participation
Public Budgeting and Financial Management

Challenges and Politics of Administrative Reform

Readings
Do not rely on a single textbook.
Focus on definitions and concepts.

Avoid topics covered in other PA modules.

Introduce international cases to add comparative perspectives.

Please help me.

Your Name (underline first name) Your country

Assessment
CA Marks Tutorial Participation 20%

Term Paper
Final Examination

20%
60%

**Feedbacks on my lectures are welcome!

Term Paper
1. Briefly describe the structure of the government.
Example: Japan is a unitary state; under the national government are local governments comprised of a total of 47 headed by governors: a metropolis (to, in Japanese), a circuit (do), two urban prefectures (hu), and 43 other prefectures (ken). Below these prefectures are municipalities.

Term Paper
2. Identify a public administration challenge faced by the country/government, and/or 3. Assesses the effectiveness of an ongoing public administration reform there. 4. Make policy recommendations.

Term Paper
The body of your paper eight pages. Plus a cover page and a reference list. Times New Roman font, double-spaced. APA or MLA citation style. Due at 5PM on March 28 One hard copy to your tutors mailbox.

Suggested Materials
Peer-reviewed academic journals
PA Focus Regional/Country Focus Sector Focus

Official country reports International organizations project documents.

International Organizations
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The World Bank The Asian Development Bank The United Nations Development Programme

Final Exam
April 25, 2012, 17PM closed-book a combination of short answer (definitional) and essay questions.

Why study PA?

1. To graduate from NUS.

2. To be an informed citizen.

3. To be a public administrator.

4. To be a public administration / governance specialist. organizational doctors

Example 1
The Africa Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Group is looking to recruit a dynamic and problem-solving Lead Public Sector/Governance Specialist and Cluster Leader to be based in Abuja, Nigeria to lead the World Banks governance and public sector management program in the following countries: Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. (Posted, 20-Jun-2011, World Bank)

Example 2
The Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) of the IMF is seeking highly-qualified experts to fill a Regional Public Financial Management (PFM) Advisor position at the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) based in Ljubljana, Slovenia as part of a regional program of technical assistance (TA) funded by the Japanese government. The Advisor's appointment term would be for an initial period of one year starting from May 2012, on a renewable basis, subject to satisfactory performance. (posted, 06Jan-2012, IMF PFM Blog)