I.A.S. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PAPER 1 2009 SOLVED CONTINUED

the field of public administration is a field of business (woodrow wilson)

The statement is in the context of late 19th century USA, when spoils system was prevalent, but voices for career bureaucracy were being raised. Woodrow Wilson emphasized the need for a separate field of study for public administration, separate from political science. Political science focussed its activity on the forms of government and policies. Public administration was thought to be a clerical work.

According to Wilson, it is getting difficult to run a constitution, than to frame one. Running the constitution means implementing the policies of the government. The policies were well laid, but the implementation was not efficient, and less effective. No matter how good the policy is, it is only as good as implemented. There was a need to study the field of public administration separately from the field of political science, as it was realized that question of public administration are not questions of political science.

The need was to make the business of government less unbusiness like. The principles of efficiency and economy were to be applied to the government administration, as well applied to the field if business. Thus the field of public administration, according to Wilson, is a field of business, as different from the field of political science.

There was a need to have science of public administration, where principles could be evolved, and applied to the practice of government administration. The public administration is no more to be done as clerical work, it requires more skills, similar to those required in the administration of private business.

But this similarity of the two administrations need not be taken too far, as their are many significant differences in public and private administrations. They differ in purpose, loyalty, exposure, environment setting and other aspects. The purpose of private administartion is profit, whereas that of public administration is pubic service.Private administrators are loyal to the owner of the orgabisation, whereas the public administration should orient their loyalty to citizenry in general, and elected political representatives in particular. Public administration is running on public money, and so its methods and techniques are exposed to the scrutiny of the public in general. Public administration works in the overall constitutional setting and political environment, whereas private administration works in the market environment.

Nevertheless, at that time of history, there was a need to make the public administration adopt certain practices of business administration. And so Wilson's remark was valid, and well received. Wilson is known as the father of public administration, for his contribution in carving out a separate field of public administration, separate from political science.

Currently, the situation is more complex. After many phases of public administration, and particularly after New Public Management, it has borrowed a lot from the private administration. It is collaborating with the private administration in the form of public private participation. The boudary between the two is getting blurred when it comes to developmental functions. Still public adminstration has maintained its separate identity from when it comes to critical functions, and welfare functions where private administration leaves a gap.