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Public Administration in Britain. 2: What is Public Administration?. BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration?. Academic disciplines that feed into public administration are: Political science Government Economics Law
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Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration?
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? Academic disciplines that feed into public administration are: • Political science • Government • Economics • Law • Sociology and Social Policy
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? Applied disciplines that contribute to public administration are: • Organisation theory • Management Science and Operations Research • Finance • ICT • Quantitative Methods
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? One approach is that it studies… • The activities of public servants (i.e. whatever roles they are called upon to perform) • The structure of executive government i.e. structures and patterns of relationships
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? Two different approaches are: • Legal/administrative - A strong centralist tendency - Strongly influenced by legal influences (powers, duties of local authorities towards citizen, centre) - Very much a Continental (Napoleonic?) tradition
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? Two different approaches are: Managerialist - Strategic planning - Management by Objectives - Financial Management regimes (e.g. cost centres) - Budgetary controls - Use of Management Information Systems, ICT
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? Modern concerns include: • Efficiency, Economy and Effectiveness (3 ‘E’s) • Control of the executive i.e. scrutiny and accountability • ‘value for money’ • Modernisaion • Constitutional issues including devolution,Reform of 2nd chamber, regional assemblies, place in Europe
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? But we are now seeing the growth of Quangocracy i.e. institutions removed from direct government control • Health (although NHS remains top of the political agenda!) • Education (Schools, Higher education) • Utilities (privatised or semi-privatised) • Regulatory and control mechanisms (Courts, prisons, regulatory offices)
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? Stakeholder theory of the modern commercial firm… Shareholders Consumers Managers Suppliers (Community) Employees (Legal)
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? Stakeholder theory of the public servant… (Ministers) Parliament (Auditors) Businesses Managers Ratepayers Community Voters Legal Requirements
BS1032: Public Administration in Britain 2: What is Public Administration? You are organising an educational system for Turkghanistan. How do you solve the following dilemmas? • Who pays? • Organised centrally or locally? • How do you measure effectiveness? • How do you deal with opposition to your ideas?