What is the meaning of public administration

From this artical the all of you can understand the meaning of public administration.

The conventional view of the public administration is that it discusses only the
processes, leaving aside the substantive concerns. Thus it concerns itself with planning,
organisation, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, budgeting, evaluating, etc. The
advent of public policy studies has obliged the public administration to study contents of
public policies. This is a substantive field. Therefore, public administration deals not only
with the processes but also the substantive field.

Public Administration is a part of the wider field of administration. Administration
is a process permeating all collective effort, be in public or private, civil or military, large
scale or otherwise, and is thus of universal nature. Administration, being characteristic of
all enterprises in pursuit of conscious purposes, and is not a peculiarity of modern age
alone. Public Administration of today, however, has three distinguishing features: Its
purpose have been completely reoriented, its functions have enormously increased in
number, variety and complexity, and its methodology has enormously increased in
number, variety and complexity, and methodology has grown from trial-and- error stage
into an orderly discipline with an organized, ever-increasing body of knowledge and
experience.

Public Administration exists in a political system for the accomplishment of the
goals and objectives formulated by the political decision makers. It is also known as
governmental administration because the adjective ‘public’ in the word ‘public
administration’ means ‘government’. Hence, the focus of public administration is on public
bureaucracy, that is, bureaucratic organisation (or administrative organisation) of the government.
Public Administration has gained greater importance since the emergence of
Administrative State. It is an instrument not only for protecting and restraining but also
fostering and promoting. Its contents, today, are more positive in nature for it is now
engaged in looking after myriad needs of human life- health, education, recreation,
sanitation, social security, etc. It is, therefore, a creative factor, its motto being the ‘welfare
of man’. These functions are in addition to its basic functions of maintaining law and order
in society. In nature, contents and scope – all go to make it the ‘heart of the problem of
modern government’. A country’s progress is, thus, largely determined by the quality of its
public administration. In the analysis, Administration is a moral act and administrator is a
moral agent. This thesis is basic to the transformation which is needed in public
administration to make it an effective instrument for the ushering in of the democratic
welfare state.

Public Administration is the machinery used by the service state to place itself in a
position to make plans and programmes that can carried out, and to carry out the plans
and programmes it has made. Administration is of importance for another reason too. It is
essentially national character makes it a powerful instrument of national integration.
Public Administration is the first need of a society, more so of a developing country like
India, which has chalked out for herself numerous plans of economic and social
betterment.

“Administration”, as E N. Gladden says, “is a long and slightly pompous word, but
it has humble meaning”. The word administer, derived from the Latin word ad +
ministrate, means to care for or to look after people, to manage affairs. Administration is a
process permeating all collective effort, be it public or private, civil or military, large scale
or otherwise, and it thus universal nature. Public Administration of today, however, has
distinguishing features: its purpose has been completely reoriented, their functions have
enormously increased in number, variety and complexity, and its discipline ever increased
body of knowledge and experience.

In the words of Woodrow Wilson, “Public administration is detailed and systematic
application of law”. Every particular application of law is an act of administration.
Pfiffner defines Public administration consists of all those operations having for
their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy.
According to Gladden, “Public administration concerned with the administration of
the government.

Professor L D. White observes, “Public administration consist of all those operations
having for their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy”.
According to Luther Gullick, “Public Administration is that part of the science of
administration which has to do with government and thus concern itself primarily with the
executive branch where the work of the Government is done”
Waldo defines Public Administration as “the art and science of management as
applied to the affairs of state.

So friend this is all meaning of public administrative.