What is Public Administration?

What is Public Administration?

Overview

• What is public administration?
• Public vs. private administration
• Policy execution vs. policy making
• Administrative responsibility
• Accountability
• Theory and practice

What is Public Administration?

• Public administration is the study of how public organizations function and how they are managed
• Public organizations are characterized as bureaucracies—formal rational systems with administrative authority to execute public programs
• Bureaucracy’s association with authority and accountability dates back to 14th century France
• Civil servants play a critical role in public service

Examples: City managers, school districts, public health agencies, federal agencies, public works departments

Public vs. Private Administration

Public administration:

• Implements public policy in the public interest
• Involves political conflict, requiring careful management
• Subject to greater public scrutiny and accountability
• Uses taxpayer money and public authority

Key insight: It’s not just about what we do, but how we do it

Public vs. Private: The Environment

Different Operating Environment:

• Public Scrutiny: Public orgs operate in “fish bowls”
• Political Demands: Must balance competing political pressures
• Legal Constraints: Bound by statutes, regulations, due process

Example: A police chief can’t simply “fire” problem officers like a private CEO—must follow civil service procedures, union contracts, and due process requirements (and the same constraints apply to a school superintendent trying to remove a tenured teacher or a city manager trying to fire a long-tenured department head)

Public vs. Private: The Mission

Different Bottom Line:

• Not Profit-Driven: Success measured by public benefit, not revenue
• Competing Standards: Must balance efficiency, equity, and responsiveness
• Career Service: Staffed by professional civil servants, not shareholders

Example: A private security firm prioritizes client satisfaction and profit. A fire department (or a public hospital emergency room) must serve everyone who shows up, regardless of ability to pay

Public vs. Private: The Authority

Different Scope of Authority:

• Limited Authority: Can only do what law permits
• Oversight: Subject to legislative, judicial, and public oversight
• Persuasion: Managers must persuade rather than command

Example: A city manager wants to implement a new program but needs council approval, public hearings, and budget authorization—unlike a private executive’s unilateral decisions

Policy Execution vs. Policy Making

Policy Execution (Implementation)

Translating policy into action through:

• Expanding opportunities: Extending services and protections
• Regulating behavior: Enforcing rules and standards
  
• Redistributing resources: Moving resources between groups
• Protecting public safety: Preventing harm

Policy Execution: Real Examples

Public Works Example:

• Policy: Complete-streets initiative to make roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists
• Execution: Redesigning intersections, retraining engineering staff, updating design standards, coordinating with transit and neighborhood groups

Corrections Example:

• Policy: Rehabilitation over punishment
• Execution: Implementing job training programs, mental health services, education courses

Policy Making

Public administrators help make policy in two stages:

Policy Formulation:

• Identifying problems and developing solutions
• Providing technical expertise to elected officials

Policy Implementation:

• Translating broad policy goals into specific actions
• Making thousands of daily decisions that shape policy outcomes

Policy Making: The Administrator’s Role

Example: Body-Worn Cameras

• Formulation stage: Police administrators advise city council on costs, benefits, privacy concerns
• Implementation stage: Administrators decide when to activate, how to store data, disciplinary procedures

Note: The same dynamic shows up in non-CJ agencies—school boards adopt cellphone policies, but principals decide how to actually enforce them day-to-day.

Reality: The line between making and executing policy is often blurred

Administrative Responsibility

Public administrators are responsible for effective and efficient policy implementation

Complex system of accountability:

• Statutes and regulations limit administrators’ discretion
• Legislative oversight committees monitor actions
• Budgetary oversight controls resources
• Judicial review ensures legal compliance

Administrative Responsibility: Competing Loyalties

Administrators must balance commitments to:

• Legal authorities: Following laws and court orders
• Agency mission: Loyalty to their organization and programs
• Professional standards: Maintaining professional credibility
• Public interest: Serving citizens effectively

Example: A city manager balancing a court-ordered consent decree (e.g., on housing conditions or police reform), long-standing departmental practice, professional associations’ best-practice guidance, and constituent demands

Accountability

Accountability = obligation to explain and justify actions to higher authority

The fundamental tension:

• External controls → rules, procedures, red tape
• Internal controls → professional discretion, but requires trust

Real challenge: How do we ensure accountability without strangling effectiveness?

Accountability in Action

School District Example:

• External: State testing requirements, school board oversight, parent complaints, media coverage
• Internal: Principal evaluations, teacher peer review, district curriculum standards

CJ Parallel — Police/Courts:

• External: Civilian oversight boards, body cameras, appellate review, legislative oversight, media scrutiny
• Internal: Professional standards, training, supervisory review, judicial ethics, peer norms

Question: Which approach works better? When?

“Our politics is Greek but our administration is Roman.”

What does this mean for American public administration?

Theory and Practice

Public administration is both theoretical and practical

• Bound by time, place, culture, and context
• How do we advance the field with limited generalizations?
• Need both universal principles and contextual understanding

Theory and Practice: Universal Elements

Some things are universal:

• Selection, motivation, control, and coordination of human behavior
• Budgeting, accounting, and record keeping
• Basic management functions

But remember: There is no “one best way” to organize and manage public organizations

Theory and Practice: What Really Matters?

Both the theoretical AND the practical:

• Theorists inform practitioners with research and frameworks
• Practitioners inform theorists with real-world insights
• Together they advance the field

Example: Research on procedural justice and street-level decision-making (much of it done in CJ settings, but applicable to any agency that interacts directly with the public) informs training and policy, while practitioner experience shapes new research questions

What is Public Administration?

Review

• Public administration studies how public organizations function and are managed
• Different from private administration in environment, mission, and authority
• Involves both policy execution and policy making
• Requires balancing competing responsibilities and loyalties
• Demands both external and internal accountability
• Combines theory and practice to serve the public interest