The functions it is called upon to perform, have expanded in scope and nature, and what is more, are continually increasing. Discuss and examine the scope of public administration in view of the said statement.

Answer:

The scope of public administration as a discipline, that is subject of studies, comprises of the following: The POSDCoRB view: Several thinkers have defined the scope of public administration in varying terms. Gullick sums up the scope of the subject by the letters of the word POSDCoRB which denote: Planning, Organisation, Staffing, Directing, Co-ordinating reporting the Budgeting.

• Planning means the working out in broad outline the things to be done, the methods to be adopted to accomplish the purpose.
• Organisation means the establishment of the formal structure of authority through which the work is sub-divided, arranged, defined and coordinated.
• Staffing means the recruitment and training of the personnel and their conditions of work. Directing means making decisions and issuing orders and instructions.
• Coordinating means inter-relating the work of various divisions, sections and other parts of the organisation. Reporting means informing the superiors within the agency to whom the executive is responsible about what is going on.
• Budgeting means fiscal planning, control and accounting. According to Gullick the POSDCoRB activities are common to all organisations. They are the common problems of management which are found in different agencies regardless of the nature of the work they do.
• POSDCoRB gives unity, certainty, and definiteness and makes the study more systematic. The critics pointed out that the POSDCoRB activities were neither the whole of administration, nor even the most important part of it. The POSDCoRB view over looks the fact that deferent agencies are faced with different administrative problems, which are peculiar to the nature of the services, they render and the functions they performed.
• The POSDCoRB view takes into consideration only the common techniques of the administration and ignores the study of the ‘subject matter’ with which the agency is concerned.
• A major defect is that the POSDCoRB view does not contain any reference to the formulation and implementation of the policy. Therefore, the scope of administration is defined very narrowly, being too inward looking and too conscious of the top management. The Subject Matter View: It is an established notion that the public administration deals not only with the processes but also with the substantive matters of administration, such as Defence, Law and Order, Education, Public Health, Agriculture, Public Works, Social Security, Justice, Welfare, etc. These services require not only POSDCoRB techniques but also have important specialised techniques of their own which are not covered by POSDCoRB techniques. For example, if you take Police Administration it has its own techniques in crime detection, maintenance of Law and Order, etc., which are much and more vital to efficient police work, than the formal principles of organisation, personnel management, coordination or finance and it is the same with other services too.

Therefore, the study of public administration should deal with both the processes (that is POSDCoRB techniques and the substantive concerns). It can be concluded that the scope of public administration with the statement of Lewis Meriam: “Public administration is an instrument with two blades like a pair of scissors. One blade may be knowledge of the field covered by POSDCoRB, the other blade is knowledge of the subject matter in which these techniques are applied. Both blades must be good to make an effective tool”.

UPSC General Studies Paper Preparation