PAD 110: Introduction to Public

Administration

Dr. Tat Puthsodary

PhD Social Science (Social Work and Social Policy), University of
South Australia
Master of Public Management, Flinders University, South Australia
Email: tputhsodary@auaf.edu.au

Introduction to the Syllabus (PAD

110)

Chapter 1: Defining Public

Administration
The presentation is adopted from the text book:
Introducing Public Administration.
Shafritz, JM., Russell, EW.; and Borick, CP 2013,
Introducing public administration, PEARSON, New
York.

1.1 Reading 1

The purpose of public

administration

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

A. Case study
B. The definitions of public
administration
1. Political definitions
2. Legal definitions
3. Managerial definitions
4. Occupational definitions
C. The evolution of public
administration

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

A. Case study
Social services provided by firefighters

Services in emergent cases

Bravery and daring people

Intangible results leading to complains about

their governments.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

B. The definitions of public administration

1. Political definitions
Public administration is what government does.
PA is the totality of the working-day activities of
all the worlds bureaucrats- whether those
activities are performed legally, illegally,
competently or incompetently, decently or
despicably.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

B. The definitions of public administration

1. Political definitions
Professional, ethics, values and consciousness
Cultural norms, beliefs and power realities of
society
it is not only far vaster in scope than most
people suppose, but it is so extensive and
pervasive in modern life that not even the
most imaginative of us can imagine it all.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

Public Administration is both direct and

indirect
The increasingly expansive nature of public
administration, branching out into the private and
nonprofit sectors, has given new meaning to the
world governance.
It refers to inter-organizational efforts to cope with
cross-boundary problems by using networks of
people and organizations.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

Public Administration is a phase in the public

policymaking cycle
Governments are in a constant flurry over
whether to do or not to do. And whatever they do
or do not do is public policy.
The public policy and public administration are
two sides of the same coin.
One decides and the other does. They cannot be
separate because one side cannot exist without
the other.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

Public Administration is implementing the

public interest
Public interest is the universal label in which
political actors wrap the policies and program
that they advocate.
Would any lobby, public manager, legislator, or
chief executive ever propose a program that was
not in the public interest? Hardly! Because they
public interest is generally taken to mean a
commonly accepted good.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

Public Administration is doing collectively

that which cannot be so well done
individually
Public administration is the nature manifestation
of the community spirit.
Collective action is the remedy for the tragedy of
the common where individuals acting in their
self-interest destroy public resources including
land and water.
Public administration is central to the process of
regulating individual behavior in the interest of

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

2. Legal definitions of public administration

Public administration is law in action: Public
administration is inherently the execution of a
public law. Every application of a general law is
necessarily an act of administration. Administration
cannot exist without this legal foundation.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

2. Legal definitions of public administration

Public administration is regulation: It is
government telling citizens and business what they
may and may not do. Our live constantly governed,
or interfered with, by regulation. We are not
officially born until we have a birth certificateregulation.

Institutional Legal Framework in Cambodia

http://www.ncdd.gov.kh/about-ncdd

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Constitution
Law
Royal Decree
Sub-Decree
Prakas
Decision
Guideline
Letter

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

2. Legal definitions of public administration

Public administration is the Kings Largesse:
The Kings largesse is whatever goods, services or
honors the ruling authority decide to bestow.
Public administration is theft: government
employees in some countries consider their jobs a
license to steal- usually by soliciting bribes. This
extremely common in developing countries where
bureaucrats are not paid reasonable wages and
have almost no choice but to engage in petty
corruption.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

3. Managerial definitions of public

administration
Public administration is the executive
function in government:
It is government agencies putting into practice
legislative acts that represent the will of the
people.
Eg. A president, governor, or mayor is constantly
recommending new programs to the Congress,
state legislatureetc.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

3. Managerial definitions of public

administration
Public administration is a management
specialty: Management refers to both to the
people responsible for running an organization, and
to the running process itself- the use of great
resources to accomplish an organizational goals.

Managerial Job Hierarchy

First-line Managers (supervisor): who are directly responsible for the

work and are extremely important to the success of day-to-day
operation.
Middle Managers: who are directly responsible for the work of other
managers below them, involved in operating personnel and
administrative assistant.
Top Managers: Top-level managers are few in number, including CEOs,
President,
Executive Vice President, Executive Director
Planning
Planning
Organizing
Planning
Leading

Organizing

Leading
Controlling
Controlling
First-line Managers

Middle Managers

Organizing
Leading
Controlling
Top Managers

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

3. Managerial definitions of public

administration
Public administration is Mickey Mouse: the
term refers to anything requiring considerable
efforts for slight results. It refers to policies or
regulations felt to be needless, inane, silly or mildly
offensive.
It is often used to mean red tape, the symbol of
excessive formality and attention to routine.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

3. Managerial definitions of public

administration
Public administration is art, not science or
vice versa: Some people have a gift for
administration but others do not get.
The administrative art comprises judgment,
panache and common sense but the artist is
useless without tools-without technical skills (the
science) that allow for the digestion and
transference of information

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

4. Occupational definitions of public

administration
Public administration is an occupational
category: Those include teacher, police, engineers
etc
Most of the people in this broad occupational
category do not even think of themselves as public
administrators. They think they are physician, or
engineering only.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

4. Occupational definitions of public

administration
Public administration is an essay contest: If
you are considered talented enough, you will be
asked to write you bosss memos. Then, because
you are too busy writing the bosss memos, you
find a younger talent to write yours.
Public administration is idealism in action:
Many people enter public service careers because
they idealists; they believe in and seek to advance
noble principles.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

4. Occupational definitions of public

administration
Public administration is an academic field: it is
a study of the art and science of management
applied to the public sector.
Public administration is a profession: It is the
application of its unique arts and sciences to the
problems of society.

1.1 Introduction
Shafritz, Russell and Borick 2013

C. The evolution of public

administration

Editorial: The New Public Governance

(Osborne 2006)

PA
-1887 of Wilsons
essay
-The dominant of the rule
of law
- A focus on administering
set rules and guidelines
- The central role for the
bureaucracy
- A commitment to
incremental budgeting
- The hegemony of the
professional in the service
delivery system

NPM

- From the late

1970s onwards

NPG
- From 1990s to
present

- An attention to lessons from -Social-political

private-sector management governance as over- A focus on entrepreneurial arching theory of
institutional relationship
leadership
- An emphasis on inputs and within society
-As the machinery of selfoutputs control and
organizing interevaluation and upon
organizational networks
performance management
-As a way to explore the
and audit
workings of policy
- The growth of use of
communities and networks
markets, competition and
-As a concept with which to
contracts for resource
explore the internal
allocation and service
process and workings of
delivery within public
the NPM
services