Principles of Public Administration

A prominent principle of public administration has been economy and efficiency, that is, the provision of public services at the minimum cost. This has usually been the stated objective of administrative reform. Despite growing concern about other kinds of values, such as responsiveness to public needs, justice and equal treatment, and citizen involvement in government decisions, efficiency continues to be a major goal.

Public administration has focused frequently on questions of formal organization. Many organizational principles originated with the military, a few – from private business. They include, for example:

1) organizing departments, ministries, and agencies on the basis of common or closely related purposes,

2) grouping like activities in single units,

3) equating responsibility with authority,

4) ensuring unity of command (only one supervisor for each group of employees,

5) limiting the number of subordinates reporting to a single supervisor,

6) employing the principle of management by exception (only the usual or problem case is brought to the top), and

7) having a clear-cut chain of command downward and of responsibility upward.

Public administration has also laid stress upon personnel. In most countries administrative reform has involved civil service reform. Historically, the direction has been toward “meritocracy” – the best individual for each job, competitive examinations for entry, and selection and promotion on the basis of merit. Attention has increasingly been given to factors other than intellectual merit, including personal attitudes, incentives, personality, personal relationships.

In addition, the budget has developed as a principal tool in planning future programmes, deciding priorities, managing current programmes, linking executive with legislature, and developing control and accountability. The contest for control over budgets, particularly in the Western world, began centuries ago and at times was the main relationship between monarchs and their subjects. The modern executive budget system in which the executive recommends, the legislature appropriates, and the executive oversees expenditures originated in 19th century Britain. In the United States during the 20th century, the budget became the principle vehicle for legislative surveillance of administration, executive control of departments, and departmental control of subordinate programs. It has been assuming a similar role in many of the developing countries of the world.

 

Task 2. Match the sentence beginnings to the correct endings.

1. A major principle of public administration has been …

2. Other kinds of values of the administrative reform are …

3. Organizational principles of public administration are similar to …

4. Public administration pays great attention to …

5. Attention has also been given to …

6. Budget is important in …

 

a) … formal organization of the military.

b) … personal characteristics of an individual.

c) … personal incentives and collective bargaining.

d) … provisions of public services at the minimum cost.

e) … justice and equal treatment.

f) … planning future programs.

 

Task 3. Match these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the text.

1. to provide 2. to involve 3. to decide 4. to oversee 5. to plan 6. to respond to 7. to equate

a) priorities b) expenditures c) civil service reform d) public services e) public needs f) responsibility g) future programmes

 

Task 4. Complete these sentences with the word combinations from the previous task.

1. A major principle of public administration is to _______________.

2. One of the principles of public administration is also to _______________.

3. An organizational principle includes _______________ with authority.

4. In most countries administrative reform has _______________.

5. Budget plays an important role in _______________.

6. Budget is also an important tool in _______________.

7. The system in which the executive _______________ originated in Britain.

 

Task 5. Nowadays a lot of women in power face with a problem of discrimination. It is difficult for them to succeed in Public Administration. Read the article about women in politics and put the correct words written below into the article.