First Name:

Last Name:

Telephone:

Email:

Address:

City:

State:

Zipcode:

Incident Details:

Yes, I would like to receive
the Morgan & Morgan newsletter.

form base
Home » Consumer Information » Crime

Public Administration

The study of government branches, the policies they issue and how they interact with other government branches as well as with the general public is known as Public Administration. This type of study is done to determine how efficient government agencies actually are, and what type of tasks each agency is capable of accomplishing. It is also used to protect the citizens that are affected by any new or ongoing government policies, and to ensure that each person or group is well represented and treated fairly.

Woodrow Wilson

One of the first people in The United States to actually study the concepts of Public Administration was Woodrow Wilson. He published an article called "The Study of Administration" which outlined the four concepts of Public Administration that he believed in. Those concepts were:

  • There should be an obvious separation between politics and Public Administration.
  • The government should be looked upon and studied from a commercial viewpoint.
  • An analysis should be made between government agencies and private businesses in order to compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of each.
  • Every civil servant must be thoroughly trained, monitored and evaluated throughout their career.

Woodrow felt that adhering to these concepts was the only way to ensure government and political groups could be properly managed.

Current Public Administration

In the 1990's a new model of Public Administration was put into place during the Clinton Administration. This model was proposed by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler, and strongly endorsed by then Vice President Al Gore. It called for government agencies to utilize the methods, resources and innovations that are created by the private sector and business world. This would allow for concepts that had been put into place by a major corporation being "borrowed" and used by government offices and officials. This policy is still very common today.

Criticism of this Policy

Some people have spoken out against this new form of Public Administration. The argument against it says that the policies put forward by corporations are designed to distinguish members of the public as customers instead of individuals. While this may be fine within the business world, many consider it inappropriate within a government agency.

Although most any government policy will receive criticism, most citizens would agree that the concept of studying governmental branches to review their procedures and estimate their level of success, is a worthwhile and necessary venture.