“Public Administration is the detailed and systematic execution of public law” MPA 211 Organization and Management

1. By : Jesusa P. Ordoña
(Wilson. The Study of Administration, 1887)

2. In 1886, Woodrow Wilson, not yet president but a
leading intellectual in the progressive movement,
wrote a manifesto concerning the topic of the
administration of government entitled, The Study of
Administration. While not the first to discuss the
matter, Wilson’s intention appeared to be to make
public administration more applicable to the
administration of government as it is conducted in the
United States. Wilson discussed what other
governments in various stages of development have
done to overcome the hurdles of managing the physical
application of the laws imposed by their constitutions
and later by their respective lawmaking bodies

3. Wilson then defined what exactly
Administration was as it applied to the
United States Government and attempted to
determine the best method to develop and
clarify how administration may best be
undertaken and improved upon in the United
States and under its Constitution. Wilson
described public administration as,
“detailed and systematic execution of public
law. Every particular application of general
law is an act of administration” (Wilson,
1887).

4. An important concept that some contribute to
Wilson became known as the
politics/administration dichotomy.
“Civil service reformers tried to avoid the political
and ethical implications of a merit system of
personnel selection by drawing a sharp
distinction-indeed a dichotomy-between politics
and administration, assigning politics to elected
officials who make policy and administration to
civil servants who simply do the bidding of their
political masters” (Encyclopedia of Public
Administration and Public Policy, 2003).

6. 4. Is different from significant ways from private
administration; and
5. Is closely associated with numerous private
groups and individuals in providing services to
the community
(Nigro and Nigro. Modern Public Administration. 1977. p. 18)

9. • The term bureaucracy is used synonymously
with the public administration system. It
provides the basic framework for an efficient
operation and management of organization. It
also plays a vital role in regulating and in
ordering of society in general (Stillman, 2010).
• Bureaucracy is closely associated with
governance mainly because it is through the
bureaucracy that governance is implemented.

10. In conclusion, The Study of
Administration is an important document in
the body of knowledge of public
administration. Wilson discussed what other
developing and developed governments have
done to overcome the hurdles of managing
the physical application of the laws imposed
by their constitutions and later by their
respective lawmaking bodies.

11. Wilson then defined what exactly
Administration was as it applied to the
United States Government and
attempted to determine the best method
to develop and clarify how administration
may best be undertaken and improved
upon in the United States and under its
Constitution. The essay has timeless
ramifications as evidenced by its
continuing relevance to the discussion
over 100 years later.

12. • It has established criteria that consist of a
ruled-based structure, hierarchy, function,
expertise of administrators and personnel,
efficiency and technical knowledge and
learning. This is the reason why there is a
need to ensure that a civil service based on
merit and fitness, competence, and relevant
qualifications required a public office is in
place.

13. References
The Politics/Administration Dichotomy and Bureaucratic
Leadership. (2003). In Encyclopedia of Public Administration and
Public Policy (Vol. 2, p. 704). New York, NY: Marcel Dekker, Inc.
Walker, Larry (1989). Woodrow Wilson, Progressive Reform, and
Public Administration. Political Science Quarterly, 104, Retrieved
May 16, 2009, from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=5053727
Wilson, W. (1887). The Study of Administration. In Public
Administration Concepts and Cases (Vol. n.a., pp. 6-15). Boston,
MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
https://benwhetstone.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/on-wilsons-
study-of-administration/

14. New Public Administration
The Winnowbrook Conference was the response
to world wars and social upheavals in the 20th
century and how traditional public administration
was not equipped to respond to societal needs. It
put a lot of emphasis on having values to public
administration instead of just bothered about
production and profit all the time and to make
policies for the underprivileged of the society.
http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.com/2012/07/wilsons-view-of-public.html

15. NPA has a humanist approach to the traditional public
administration being practiced at that time. The themes
were:
•Relevance. Social realities must be taken into
consideration
•Values. Values being served through administration
actions must be transparent
•Social Equity. Realization of social equity should be the
chief goal of public administration
•Change. Skepticism towards the deeply rooted powers
invested in permanent institutions and the status quo.
•Client focus. Positive, proactive, and responsive
administrators rather than inaccessible and authoritarian
ivory tower bureaucrats.
http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.com/2012/07/wilsons-view-of-public.html

16. Public Choice Approach
This approach is the use of modern economics tools to study
problems that traditionally are in the province of political
science. The “public” here refers to the administrators and
the choices they make while implementing and formulating
policies. From the perspective of political science, it is the
subset of positive political theory that models voters,
politicians, and bureaucrats as mainly self interested. In
particular, it studies such agents and their interactions in the
social system either as such or under alternative constitutional
rules and on what basis do they6 take decisions while
implementing policies. These can be represented in a number
of ways including standard constrained utility maximization,
game theory or decision theory.
http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.com/2012/07/wilsons-view-of-public.html

17. Public Choice analysis has roots in positive analysis (“What
is” ) but it is often used for normative purposes (“what
ought to be”) to identify a problem or suggest how a
system could be improved by changes in constitutional
rules, the subject of constitutional economics.
Public choice Theory is related to social choice theory
which uses mathematical tools to study voting and voters.
Since voter behavior influences the behavior of public
officials public choice theory often uses social choice
theory,
http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.com/2012/07/wilsons-view-of-public.html

18. Good Governance
Governance describe the process of decision making and the
process by which decisions are implemented ( or not
implemented) . The term governance can apply to
corporate, international, national, local governance or to the
interactions between other sectors of the society.
It looks to reform governance through a variety of ways like
comparative studies, democratization, transparency, etc.
http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.com/2012/07/wilsons-view-of-public.html

19. New Public Management
It advocates the incorporation of more management
practices into public administration to reform it and make it
more efficient. It proposes reforms such as incentives for
administrators , deadlines and contracts outsourced and
more private and public partnership.
http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.com/2012/07/wilsons-view-of-public.html

21. 3. The Philippines has still much to learn about
public administration and governance.
4. As the Philippines has a lot to learn about
public administration and governance, it has
also much to learn about its (own) indigenous
system of governance. Even to this day, the
Philippine government is continuously
dominated by officials and politicians who do
not understand the Filipino, much less prioritize
their needs.

22. The Filipino values of pakikisama,
pakikiramay, bayanihan, paggalang, hiya,
amor propio, utang na loob, delicadeza,
among others are still very much reflected in
the bureaucratic behaviour of politicians and
government officials. The negative
consequences are far more injurious to both
people and society, in that various forms of
graft and corruption, political dynasties, and
warlordism thrives in the country at the cost
of people’s welfare and development.

23. 5. Governance and bureaucratic reforms must
always be made to culture. For it is only in
reforming the culture that we are able to
achieve an effective and truly meaningful
change in our system.

24. Reference:
Maria Judy See-San Juan is the Executive Director of Partners for
Human Progress and Social Development. She is a
sociologist and a faculty member of the University of Santo
Tomas. She is currently completing her doctorate degree in
Public Administration at the UP National College of
Public Administration and Governance (UP- NCPAG).
Email: judysanjuan@ymail.com s