Comparative Public Administration
February 12, 2025
In the United States, the government of the United States is the biggest player in the flood insurance industry. This has been the case ever since the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created in 1968. Prior to 1968, many private insurance companies refused to provide private insurance to homeowners who had houses in flood-prone […]
An organization is an individual’s first home as one spends the maximum time here only. No organization runs for charity, it is really important that the organization achieve its goals. How does an organization become successful? How will an organization achieve its goals?. The employees are the assets for any organization and the profitability of […]
In the previous few articles, we have studied about the concepts of risk management in general. However, merely understanding general risk management is not enough for modern-day risk professionals. The challenging environment of today requires people to specialize in the different types of risk management. Out of all the different types of risks that are […]
Etiquette refers to good manners which help an individual find his place in the society. It is essential for an individual to behave in a certain way for others to respect and appreciate him. Etiquette refers to a set of rules individuals need to follow to be accepted in the society. One must understand the […]
In order for businesses to run smoothly, risks need to be identified and managed. This is especially true in our increasingly volatile global economy. The risks involved, for example, in project management are different in comparison to the risks involved finance. This accounts for certain changes in the entire risk management process. However the ISO […]
The expansion of public sector into industrial enterprises has been into practice for quite some time, a little over half a century now. The public sector organizations in order to function efficiently are borrowing heavily from the business knowledge, administration and process orientation of the private organizations. However, there still remains a considerable difference between these two administrative practices.
It would be interesting to learn about both similarities and differences between these two to arrive at a better understanding. Let us first understand the differences and see what the authors and subject matter experts have to say about it.
According to Paul H. Appleby the public administration is different from private administration in three important aspects, the first is the political character, secondly the breadth of scope, impact and consideration and public accountability. These differences seem very fundamental and very valid in the Iight of our own exploration of the subject in previous articles.
Josia Stamp went a step further and identified four aspects of difference of which the only one similar to that of Appleby’s is that of public accountability or public responsibility as Stamp identifies it. The other three are:
Herbert Simon cited very practical and easy to understand differences based on popular beliefs and imagination and therefore might seem more appealing. He said that public administration is bureaucratic while private administration is business like. Public administration is political while private administration is apolitical. And finally; the aspect most of us would swear by that public administration is characterized by red tape while the private administration is free of it.
The management Guru Peter Drucker sums up the difference in more comprehensive manner. He says that the very intuition which governs both kinds of administration is different from each other. While the public administration functions on service intuition the private administration follows the business intuition. They also have different purposes to serve, with different needs, values and objectives. Both of them make different kind of contribution to the society as well. The way the performance and results are measured is different in a public administration than that of private one.
Let us now understand the similarities between the two and see to what extent and in which areas are they similar. You would be surprised to know that there are many similarities between the ways in which a public and a private administration functions. The similarities are so much that some subject matter experts and authors like Henry Fayol, M P Follet, Lyndall Urvick do not treat them as different. Fayol said that all kinds of administration function on some general principle irrespective of them being public or private. The planning, organizing, commanding and controlling are similar for all administrations.
The above arguments and several other points suggested and illustrated by other authors as well clearly point out that there are more similarities between the two administrations than what we see and understand.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *