Public Administration - what is it? Public administration is often regarded as including also some responsibility for determining the policies and programs of governments. Specifically, it is the following: Planning Organizing Directing Coordinating Controlling of government operations.Public administration is a feature of all nations, whatever their system of government. Within nations public administration is practiced at the Central Intermediate Local levelsCivil ServiceThe body of public administrators is usually called the CIVIL SERVICE.Certain characteristics are common to all civil services. Senior civil servants are regarded as the professional advisers to those who formulate state policy.Senior civil servants are professional in the sense that their experience of public affairs is thought to provide them with the knowledge of the limits within which state policy can be made effective and of the probable administrative results of different courses of action.Civil servants in every country are expected to: Advise Warn Assist those responsible for state policy And, when this has been decided, to provide the organization for implementing it.The responsibility for policy decisions lies with the political members of the executive (those members who have been elected or appointed to give political direction to government and, customarily, career civil servants).By custom, civil servants are protected from public blame or censure for their advice.The acts of their administration may, however, be subject to special judicial controls from which no member of the executive can defend them.Structure of civil serviceCivil services are organized upon standard hierarchical lines, in which a command structure rises pyramid-fashion from the lowest offices to the highest. This command implies obedience to the lawful orders of a superior, with well-defined duties, specific powers, and salaries and privileges objectively assessed. A recognized...
