E- Pathshala On Public Administration

1
E- Pathshala
On Public Administration

• Dr. I. Ramabrahmam
• Professor
• Department of Political Science
• University of Hyderabad
• Hyderabad
• Email rbi.pdg_at_gmail.com

2
Studying Public Administration in post-
Globalization era

• In the post-globalization era, no other academic
  discipline has undergone as many changes as
  Public Administration did(Guy Peters and Vincent
  Wright 1998).
• The study of public administration in traditional
  manner laid focus laid on
• Organisation Theory
• Weberian Theory of bureaucracy
• Structures rather than process
• Inputs rather than outcome
• Rules rather than outcome
• Hierarchy etc.( Bhattacharya, 2004)
• The governments across the world have been
  perceived to be inefficient.
• The conventional public administration could not
  address the issues of efficiency, economy and
  effectiveness of public institutions . This
  gave rise to New Public Management(NPM) (Osborne
  and Gaebler, 1992)
• A paradigm shift has taken in the study of public
  administration.

3

• In addition to this, the managerial practices in
  private sector have influenced the functioning of
  the public sector (Osborne and Gaebler1992).
• These changes have questioned the following
  fundamentals of public administration, such as,
• 1. The assumption of self-sufficiency
• 2. The assumption of hierarchy
• 3. The assumption of uniformity
• 4. The assumption of Accountability upward
• 5.The assumption of standardized
  establishment procedure
• 6. Apolitical nature/Neutrality of civil
  service
• (Guy Peters and Vincent Wright 1998)
• Denhardt and Denhardt (2008) rightly took note
  of this paradigm shift as shown in the following
  table

4
Old Public Administration New Public Administration New Public Service
Concept of the Public Interest Defined in politically and expressed in law It represents the aggregation of individual interests It is the result of a dialogue about shared values
To whom public servants responsive Clients and constituents Customers Citizens
Role of government Rowing Steering Serving
Approach to accountability Hierarchical Market-driven Multi-faced
Administrative discretion Limited Wide Discretion needed but constrained and accountable
Assumed Organisational structure Bureaucratic Decentralised Collaborative structures with leadership shared internally and externally
Assumed motivational basis of public servants Pay and benefits, civil service protections Entrepreneurial spirit, ideological desire to reduce size of governments Public service, desire to contribute to society
5

• In addition to these developments, governance has
  become one of the prime areas of interest in
  contemporary research. Civil society groups are
  now asking for a more inclusive and participatory
  governance which has political implications.
• Given this background, it has become imperative
  to know
• What are governance reforms?
• What are their implications to efficiency,
  delivery and accountability in
  managing public affairs?
• A paradigm shift in the study of public
  administration and corresponding changes can be
  well understood through revising the existing
  traditional curriculum.

6

• Accordingly, the new curriculum should encompass
  the recent developments, such as, governance and
  related concepts, public management techniques,
  leadership, public finance, disaster management
  etc.
• Such efforts enhances the validity and relevance
  of Public Administration at local, national and
  global level.
• This is reflected in the proposed course on
  Public Administration designed for INFLIBNET
  purpose.
• Keeping these developments in view, the following
  course have been identified

7
Post-Graduate Courses in Public
Administration

• Theories of Public Administration
• Public Policy Formulation and Implementation
• Public Management
• Governance Theories and Concepts
• Human resources management
• Organizational Behavior
• Public Finance and Tax Administration
• Administrative Law and Comparative Public
  Management
• Public Sector Strategic Management
• Public Sector Project Management
• Governance and Leadership
• Civil Service Ethics and Professionalism
• Public Sector Reforms in India
• Indian Administration
• Administrative Reforms
• Management Information Systems
• Research Methodology in Public Administration

8
Objectives of Public Administration course

• The specific objectives of the Public
  Administration Curriculum are to
• familiarize the students with basic theories,
  concepts and principles of public
  administration
• enable them to understand the evolution and
  growth of public administration as a discipline
• become familiar on how governance as theory and
  practice transforms the state and politics at
  different levels - global, national and local
  and
• equip them with an understanding on various
  aspects pertaining to management, good
  governance, public policy, civil service reforms

9
Expected Outcomes

• After completing the course, the following
  outcomes students are expected to
• have a thorough understanding of the evolution
  and phases of public administration
• establish the linkages between the public
  administration and socio-economic development
• think of devising strategies for better
  management of human resource and capacity
  building and
• conceptualize good governance and examine its
  role in development of the country.

10
References

• Bhattacharya, Mohit, 2004, New Horizons of
  Public Administration, Jawahar publishers, New
  Delhi.
• Denhardt, J,V. and Denhardt, R, B.,2007,The New
  Public Service Serving, Not Steering. M. E.
  Sharpe. New York.
• Osborn, David and Gabler, Ted, 1992, Reinventing
  the Government The Spirit of Entrepreneurial
  Government, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi.
• Peters Guy and Vincent Wright, 1998, Public
  Policy and Administration Old and New in Robert
  Goodman (ed) A Handbook of Political Science,
  Oxford University Press, New York.
• World Bank, 2003, World Development Report 2004,
  Making Services Work for Poor People, World
  Bank, Washington. D.C.