the concept of public administration

8/12/2019 The Concept of Public Administration

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dr. hab. Jerzy SupernatInstitute of Administrative Studies

University of Wrocaw

The Conceptof Public Administration


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The Concept of Public Administration

In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God,and the Word was God.

The Bible Revised Standard Version.The Gospel according to John, 1, 1:


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The termsadministration and public administration

are equivocal (= ambiguous) ones.


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dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat


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Luther Gulick

Administration has to do with getting things done; with the accomplishmentof defined objectives.

Dwight Waldo

Administration is a type of co-operative human effort that has a high degreeof rationality.

George E. Berkley

Administration is a process involving human beings jointly engaged in work-ing towards common goals.

Keith Henderson

Administration is the arrangement of men and materials in the rational carry-ing out purposes.

Two essential elements of administration:

collective effort

common purpose


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Administration is an universal process and occurs indiverse institutional settings. Based on its institutionalsettings, administration is divided into:

public administration (refers to the administrationwhich operates in governmental setting)

private administration (refers to the administrationwhich operates in non-governmental setting)


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Woodrow Wilson

Public administration is a detailed and systematic execution of law. Every

particular application of law is an act of administration. [] Administration isthe most obvious part of the government; it is the government in action; it isthe executive, the operative, the most visible part of the government.

Edgar N. Gladden

Public administration is concerned with the administration of the government.

Leonard D. White

Public administration consists of all those operations having for their purposethe fulfillment or enforcement of public policy.

Marshall E. Dimock

Public administration is the fulfillment or enforcement of public policy as de-

clared by the competent authorities. It deals with the problems and powers ofthe organizations and techniques of management involved in carrying out thelaw and policies formulated by the policy-making agencies of government.Public administration is the law in action. It is the executive side of a govern-ment.


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Felix A. Nigro

Public administration: (1) is a cooperative group effort in a public setting; (2)

covers all three branches executive, legislative, and judicial and theirinterrelationships; (3) has an important role in the formulation of public policy,and is thus part of a political process; (4) is different in significant ways fromprivate administration; and (5) is closely associated with numerous privategroups and individuals in providing services to the community.

David H. Rosenbloom, Robert S. Kravchuk

Public administration is the use of managerial, political, and legal theories andprocesses to fulfill legislative, executive, and judicial mandates for the provi-sion of governmental regulatory and service functions.

Dwight Waldo

Public administration is the art and science of management as applied to the

affairs of the State. [] The process of public administration consists of theactions involved in effecting the intent or desire of a government. It is thusthe continuously active, business part of government, concerned with carry-ing out the law, as made by legislative bodies (or other authoritative agents)and interpreted by the courts, through the process of organization and mana-gement.


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Luther Gulick

Public Administration is that part of the science of administration which has todo with government and thus concerns itself primarily with the executive

branch where the work of government is done, though there are obviouslyproblems in connections with the legislative and judicial branches.

James W. Davis

Public administration can be best identified with the executive branch of agovernment.

William F. Willoughby

The term administration may be employed [] in two senses. In its broadestsense it denotes the work involved in the actual conduct of governmental af-fairs, regardless of the particular branch of government concerned. It is, thus,quite proper to speak of the administration of the legislative branch of the

government, the administration of justice or judicial affairs, or the administra-tion of the executive branch as well as the administration of the affairs of theadministrative branch of the government, or the conduct of the affairs of thegovernment generally. In its narrowest sense, it denotes the operations of theadministrative branch only*.*Author made a distinction between executive power and administrative power and restricted the use of the term

administration to the activities of the administrative branch only. In other words he has given administration thestatus of a fourth branch of government.


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In the negative concept, regarding the doctrine of se-paration of powers, the traditional view expressed by Ger-man scholars Otto Mayerand Walter Jellinekwas that:

public administration (vast remnants) staysoutside the legislature and the judiciary.


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The Constitution of the Republic of Poland

Art. 10

1. The system of government of the Republic of Polandshall be based on the separation of and balance be-tween the legislative, executive and judicial powers.

2. Legislative power shall be vested in the Sejm and theSenate, executive power shall be vested in the Pre-sident of the Republic of Poland and the Council ofMinisters, and the judicial power shall be vested incourts and tribunals.


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German publicadministration scholarLorenz von Stein,1815-1890,one of the first

to acknowledgethat the modern stateis an administrative state:

Administrationis what I cannot name.


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Polish scholarJanusz towski:

Administration can be described but not defined.


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David H. Rosenbloom, Robert S. Kravchuk

Public administration [] is difficult to define. [] In part, this is be-

cause public administration covers such a vast amount of activity.Public administration jobs range from the exploration of outer space tosweeping the streets. Some public administrators are highly educatedprofessionals, who may be at the forefront of their fields of specializa-tion; others possess few skills that differentiate them from the mass ofthe citizenry. Some public administrators make policies that have anationwide impact and may benefit millions of people; others havevirtually no responsibility for policy making and simply carry outmundane governmental tasks like word processing, filing, and recordkeeping. Public administrators are doctors, lawyers, scientists, engi-neers, accountants, budgeters, policy analysts, personnel officers, ma-

nagers, clerks, keyboarders, manual laborers, and individuals engagedin a host of other occupations and functions.

[] public administration as a category is so abstract and varied that itcan only be described in vague, general, amorphous, and somewhatcompeting terms.


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Prisonadministrativeestablishment / publicundertaking

As of the end of August 2007,Poland officially declared90 199 prisoners(13 374 pre-trial; 76 434 serving

sentences; 391 others; 2 743prisoners were female),giving an imprisonment rateper 100 000 inhabitantsof about 234.

In Australian prisons at 30 June 2008there were 27 615 prisoners(sentenced and unsentenced) givingan imprisonment rate of 169prisoners per 100 000 adultpopulation.


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18/32War cemetery. Lest we should dream that we may die in vain!


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German scholarIngo von Mnch:

Von der Wiege bis zur Bahre: Formulare, Formulare.(From the cradle to the bier: forms, forms).


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There is, however, a core of diversemeanings of terms administration andpublic administration, linked with theorigin of the word administration.

Administration has originated from Latinverb ministrare, strengthened by thepreposition ad-, meaning to serve.Wordsministerandministrationalsoconform that servant aspect of thederivatives of ministrare.

Therefore, administration always meansa certain service or executive activity,

carried out with respect to somebodyand/or something more important.Administration is an instrument servingto achieve a goal and/or to execute a willof superior. It should not have aims of itsown.


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Polish scholarHubert Izdebski:

Public administration is an operational instrument in thehands of a political power. Serving the political power, pu-blic administration in a democracy should serve the peo-ple organised in a democratic state. It is, in a sense, an

executive of the executive power.

Public administration is alsopublic in the sense that, inliberal democracy, the only argument for its interventionas the intervention of the state power in the affairs of

the state's subjects (individuals as well as their organisa-tions: business and non-profit ones alike) is the publicgood (the public interest).

h f bl d


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Polish scholarMagorzataStahl:Characteristics of public administration:

acting on behalf of the state or another public authority, towhich the state has ceded a part of its power (imperium)

administrative coercion performing a function with the pos-sibility of applying public power to enforce decisions

political nature (the principle of spoils system developed in theUSA), in Poland e.g. when the government is dismissed, the govern-ors of the provinces resign

acting on the basis and within the limits of law(a rule applic-able to individualsitis allowed to do everything that is not explici-

tly forbiddenis not applicable for public administration)a continuous and stable operation

employing mainly professional personnel (in particular a cor-ps of civil servants)

Th C f P bli Ad i i i


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Janusz towskiadded other characteristics of public administration:

a peculiarlymonopolistic character: administration acts alone wi-thin its competence

undertaking non-commercial activity, not aiming at gaining pro-

fits, which doesntmean being gratuitous (= done freely, without re-ward or payment being expected), sometimes resulting with profit(but not only a profit)

acting on administrative own initiative or on requestof the in-terested party

Th C t f P bli Ad i i t ti


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Hubert Izdebski 1 / 7

From the functional point of view, public administration can bedefined as an operational function, in any state, independentlyof the epoch and of the form of government.



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2 / 7

It is not, however, the case of public administration approa-ched in institutional terms. Public administration as

a specific set of authorities and institutions,

with missions set up in conformity with principles of the hori-

zontal and vertical division of work (constituting the division ofadministrative tasks and competences) and

staffed by professional employees

is a relatively new phenomenon. Although public administra-

tion has been developing since late Middle Ages, it was as lateas in the Enlightenment period, i.e. in the 18th century, that itappeared in the form comparable to the contemporary ones.



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3 / 7The absolute monarchies of the 18th century lacked however an im-portant characteristic feature of the contemporary liberal democraticstate. They lacked a strict link between public administration and thelaw, especially administrative law.

The contemporary link between public administration and the lawconsists in the submission of all the executive power, andpublic administration operating therewithin, to the law. Thesubmission is the most important aspect of:

theruleof law,the principle which has been developed in Englandsince the Middle Ages, or

thestateof law(Rechtstaat / Etat de droit / Estado de derecho /

pastwo prawa), the concept introduced in the continental Europe,especially in Germany in the 19th century, as an overt opposition toPolizeistaat.

From that point of view, public administration is an instrument of im-plementation of provisions of the statutes and other sources of law.



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Such idea, linked with the principle of legality (each actionof public administration must have a legal basis), and the pro-tection of citizen rights against uncontrolled discretion of statepower, has opened room for the judicial control of public admi-nistration.

Art. 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland

The organs of public authority shall function on the basis of,

and within the limits of, the law.



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When taking into account the importance of the legal factor inorganisation and activities of public administration, it should be,nevertheless, borne in mind that public administration may notbe a simple bouche de la loi, a kind of machinery of law enfor-

cement, as its basic role is providing to the public neces-sary services in diverse fields of the governments activity.Public administration is sometimes defined as an organisa-tional activity of the government. Such activity needs aninitiative and certain freedom of action as well, and it cannot be

a passive implementation of orders of the law in any way.



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In the contemporary liberal democratic state, based upon lega-lity and market economy, public administration belongs to themost important elements of the whole system of social organi-sation. The system can be presentedin a simplified wayascomposed of several interactive sub-systems, i.e.

political system

market economy

lawpublic administration

each of which having been set within the larger context of civilsociety.



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Political system

Law

Marketeconomy

Publicadministration

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Civil society (citizens)



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Polish scholarJacek Jagielski:The principle of legality, the fundamental principle go-verning the functioning of public administration, derivesdirectly from democratic tenants. This is clearly set forthin the Constitution, which provides that units of public

authority must operate only on the basis of law and strict-ly within its bonds (art. 7). This means that every actionof public administration has to be explicitly authorized bylaw. The maxim that anythingwhich is not forbidden is

alloweddoes not apply here. Quite to the contrary, onlywhat is specifically provided by law is allowed.

Concluding Remark


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Concluding Remark

d h b J S

If it is dangerous to suppose that government is alwaysright, it will sooner or later be awkward for public admini-

stration if most people suppose that it is always wrong.

John Kenneth Galbraith

the concept of public administration

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