PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION
Public administration refers to the administration which operates in the governmental setting. Private administration on the other hand, refers to the administration which operate in non-governmental setting, that is business enterprises. Hence they are also known as governmental administration and business administration respectively.
DIFFERENCES
Public administration is different from private administration in terms of the environment (i.e. institutional setting) in which its operates. PAUL H.APPLEBY, SIR JOSIA STAMP, HERBERT A. SIMON AND PETER DRUCKER made distinction between public and private administrations.
APPLEBY’S VIEW: according to him public administration is different from private administration in three aspects.
1) Political character
2) Breadth of scope, impact and consideration
3) Public accountability
JOSIA STAMP’S VIEW: according to him public administration differs from private administration in four aspects.
1) Principle of uniformity
2) Principle of external financial control
3) Principle of public responsibility
4) Principle of service motive
HERBERT SIMON’S VIEW: according to him, the distinction between public and private administration lies in the popular imagination which relates to three points.
1) Public administration is bureaucratic, whereas private administration is business –like.
2) Public administration is political ,while private administration is non political.
3) Public administration is characterised by red tape, while private administration is free from it.
DRUCKER’S VIEW : according to him, public administration (service institution)is basically different from private administration (business institution). To quote him, “it is different in its purpose.it has different values. It needs different objectives. And it make a different contribution to the society. ‘performance and results’ are quite different in service institution from what they are in a business institution. ‘managing for performance’is one area in which the service institution differs significantly from business institution.”
POLITICAL DIRECTION: the political character of public administration differentiate it from private administration. Public administration is subject to political direction and control. This is Primary distinction between the two. Paul Appleby argues “administration is politics since it must be responsive to the public interest…,it is necessary to emphasize the fact that popular political processes, which are the essence of democracy, can only work through governmental organisation. And that all governmental organisations are not merely administrative entities, they are and must be political organisms.”
BREADTH OF SCOPE, IMPACT AND CONSIDERATION: private administration cannot claim the breadth of scope, impact and consideration of the public administration. In other words of PAUL H. APPLEBY, the organised government impinges upon and is affected by practically everything that exists or moves in our society. It involves policies and action of immense complexity. Its fullest possible understanding requires the wisdom of the anthropologist, the historian, the economist, the sociologist , the political scientist, the farmer, the labourer, the merchant, the industrialist, the banker, the politician, the philosopher, and many more.”
PUBLIC ACCOUNTABLITY: public administration is characterised by public accountability from which private administration is free. Public administration has to function in its environment which consist of the press, political parties, pressure groups, and so forth. Thus public accountability and responsibility is the hall mark of public administration in a democracy. PAUL H.APPLEBY observes “government administration differs from all other administrative work to a degree not even faintly outside, by virtue of its public outcry.”
PRINCIPLE OF EXTERNAL FINANCIAL CONTROL: the finances of public administration are controlled by the legislature. In other words, legislature authorises the income and expenditure of executive branch. Private administration on the other hand ,is not subject to the principle of external financial control. it is free to manages its finances as its like.
PRINCIPLE OF SERVICE MOTIVE: Public administration is characterised by service motive. Its purpose is to serve the people and to promote community welfare. The private administration, in contrast, is characterised by profit motive, not social service . its objective is to maximise profit. Also, the public administration carries a greater social prestige than the private administration because of its social role.
LEGAL FRAME WORK: public administration has to function within the legal framework, that is , within the limits set by the laws, rules and regulations. This make the public administration rigid in its operation. Private administration, on the other hand, is relatively free from such limits and enjoys flexibility in operation.
SIMILARITIES:
The specific similarities between public and private administration are as below:-
1) The managerial technique and skills of planning, organising, coordinating, controlling, and so on.
2) Both have uniformity in accounting, filing, statistics, stocking, and so on.
3) Both are organised on the basis of principle of hierarchy, that is scalar chain.
4) Both are being influenced by the practices and standard of each other.
5) Both have similarities so far as the problems of organisation , personnel and finance are concerned.
Public administration refers to the administration which operates in the governmental setting. Private administration on the other hand, refers to the administration which operate in non-governmental setting, that is business enterprises. Hence they are also known as governmental administration and business administration respectively.
DIFFERENCES
Public administration is different from private administration in terms of the environment (i.e. institutional setting) in which its operates. PAUL H.APPLEBY, SIR JOSIA STAMP, HERBERT A. SIMON AND PETER DRUCKER made distinction between public and private administrations.
APPLEBY’S VIEW: according to him public administration is different from private administration in three aspects.
1) Political character
2) Breadth of scope, impact and consideration
3) Public accountability
JOSIA STAMP’S VIEW: according to him public administration differs from private administration in four aspects.
1) Principle of uniformity
2) Principle of external financial control
3) Principle of public responsibility
4) Principle of service motive
HERBERT SIMON’S VIEW: according to him, the distinction between public and private administration lies in the popular imagination which relates to three points.
1) Public administration is bureaucratic, whereas private administration is business –like.
2) Public administration is political ,while private administration is non political.
3) Public administration is characterised by red tape, while private administration is free from it.
DRUCKER’S VIEW : according to him, public administration (service institution)is basically different from private administration (business institution). To quote him, “it is different in its purpose.it has different values. It needs different objectives. And it make a different contribution to the society. ‘performance and results’ are quite different in service institution from what they are in a business institution. ‘managing for performance’is one area in which the service institution differs significantly from business institution.”
POLITICAL DIRECTION: the political character of public administration differentiate it from private administration. Public administration is subject to political direction and control. This is Primary distinction between the two. Paul Appleby argues “administration is politics since it must be responsive to the public interest…,it is necessary to emphasize the fact that popular political processes, which are the essence of democracy, can only work through governmental organisation. And that all governmental organisations are not merely administrative entities, they are and must be political organisms.”
BREADTH OF SCOPE, IMPACT AND CONSIDERATION: private administration cannot claim the breadth of scope, impact and consideration of the public administration. In other words of PAUL H. APPLEBY, the organised government impinges upon and is affected by practically everything that exists or moves in our society. It involves policies and action of immense complexity. Its fullest possible understanding requires the wisdom of the anthropologist, the historian, the economist, the sociologist , the political scientist, the farmer, the labourer, the merchant, the industrialist, the banker, the politician, the philosopher, and many more.”
PUBLIC ACCOUNTABLITY: public administration is characterised by public accountability from which private administration is free. Public administration has to function in its environment which consist of the press, political parties, pressure groups, and so forth. Thus public accountability and responsibility is the hall mark of public administration in a democracy. PAUL H.APPLEBY observes “government administration differs from all other administrative work to a degree not even faintly outside, by virtue of its public outcry.”
PRINCIPLE OF EXTERNAL FINANCIAL CONTROL: the finances of public administration are controlled by the legislature. In other words, legislature authorises the income and expenditure of executive branch. Private administration on the other hand ,is not subject to the principle of external financial control. it is free to manages its finances as its like.
PRINCIPLE OF SERVICE MOTIVE: Public administration is characterised by service motive. Its purpose is to serve the people and to promote community welfare. The private administration, in contrast, is characterised by profit motive, not social service . its objective is to maximise profit. Also, the public administration carries a greater social prestige than the private administration because of its social role.
LEGAL FRAME WORK: public administration has to function within the legal framework, that is , within the limits set by the laws, rules and regulations. This make the public administration rigid in its operation. Private administration, on the other hand, is relatively free from such limits and enjoys flexibility in operation.
SIMILARITIES:
The specific similarities between public and private administration are as below:-
1) The managerial technique and skills of planning, organising, coordinating, controlling, and so on.
2) Both have uniformity in accounting, filing, statistics, stocking, and so on.
3) Both are organised on the basis of principle of hierarchy, that is scalar chain.
4) Both are being influenced by the practices and standard of each other.
5) Both have similarities so far as the problems of organisation , personnel and finance are concerned.
