BCS Written Public Administration key terms

The activity of implementing government policy and managing public organisations, covering both the machinery of government and the academic study of how public bodies are organised, staffed, financed and held to account.

The claim associated with Woodrow Wilson and Frank Goodnow that elected politicians decide policy while appointed officials merely execute it, implying administrators should be neutral, technical and separated from partisan choice.

Luther Gulick's acronym listing the chief executive functions of administration: planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting, used to frame managerial responsibility in public agencies.

Frederick Taylor's early twentieth-century doctrine that work should be studied, timed and standardised so that productivity rises through task design, selection and training rather than through worker discretion.

A form of organisation marked by hierarchy, written rules, defined jurisdictions, salaried officials and impersonal application of rules, analysed by Max Weber as the technically superior form of large-scale administration.

Max Weber's analytical model of rational-legal administration, defined by legal authority, hierarchical office, written files, career appointment and rule-bound conduct, used as a benchmark rather than a description of any real agency.

Rule in which office is treated as a personal possession of the ruler and staffed through loyalty, kinship or purchase rather than merit, a contrast model Weber used against rational-legal bureaucracy.

Practice of filling public posts with political supporters as a reward, common in nineteenth-century United States, which provoked merit-based reform because it weakened competence and continuity in government service.

Recruitment and promotion based on competitive examination, qualifications and recorded performance rather than political loyalty or personal connection, intended to secure competence and protect officials from arbitrary dismissal.

The expectation that career officials serve whichever government is in office, giving frank advice but loyally implementing lawful decisions without partisan advocacy or obstruction.

The permanent, salaried body of officials employed by the state to administer public business, usually organised by cadre, grade and post, and distinct from elected politicians and contract staff.

Arrangement in which officials belong to a generalist service rather than a single post, moving between departments over a career, as in the Indian Administrative Service and Bangladesh Civil Service.

A long-running tension over whether senior administrative posts should be held by broadly trained managers with wide experience or by professionals with deep technical knowledge of a policy field.

A purposive course of action or deliberate inaction adopted by authoritative public actors to address a perceived problem, typically expressed in laws, plans, budgets and programmes.

Analytical model dividing policy work into stages such as agenda setting, formulation, adoption, implementation and evaluation, useful for organising study but criticised for implying a linear sequence.

The process by which a problem comes to be treated as a matter requiring government attention, shaped by interest groups, media coverage, focusing events and the prevailing beliefs of decision makers.

A brief opening when the convergence of problem, policy and political streams makes adoption likely, a concept from John Kingdon's multiple-streams framework.

The process by which ideas, instruments or whole programmes developed in one jurisdiction are borrowed, adapted or imposed elsewhere, raising questions about fit with local capacity and context.

The stage in which adopted decisions are translated into action by agencies, involving resource allocation, coordination, discretion and street-level behaviour, and a frequent source of policy failure.

Frontline public worker such as a teacher, health worker or police officer who exercises discretion in applying rules to individual cases, and whose choices effectively shape what policy means in practice.

The lawful freedom of an official to choose among possible courses of action when rules cannot specify every case, necessary for sensible administration but a recognised risk to consistency and fairness.

A normative standard for public affairs emphasising participation, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, equity, effectiveness, efficiency and accountability, promoted by donors and international institutions.

Openness about the basis of decisions, the use of public money and the results achieved, enabling outsiders to scrutinise official conduct and reducing opportunities for corruption.

A legal entitlement of citizens to obtain information held by public bodies within set time limits, subject to defined exemptions, backed by an independent appeal or commission mechanism.

The principle that public power must be exercised under known, general and prospectively stated laws, applied equally and adjudicated by independent bodies, rather than by arbitrary personal command.

Minimum procedural fairness owed by decision makers, usually summarised as hearing the other side and being free from personal bias in the matter to be decided.

The power of courts to examine administrative action for legality, procedural fairness, rationality and proper scope of authority, and to quash decisions that fail these tests without substituting their own view of policy.

Literally beyond the powers, describing an administrative act that goes outside the authority conferred by statute or the constitution, and is therefore invalid.

The obligation of officials to answer for their decisions and performance to superiors, legislatures, courts, auditors and citizens, and to accept consequences when standards are not met.

An independent official who investigates complaints of maladministration against public bodies, recommends remedies and reports publicly, supplementing courts and internal grievance channels.

A situation where an official's private interest, financial or personal, could improperly influence the discharge of public duty, requiring disclosure, avoidance or recusal rather than mere good intent.

A written set of expected behaviours and values for public officials, covering integrity, impartiality, use of resources and gifts, usually supported by declaration and disciplinary procedures.

The study and practice of the values, duties and standards that should guide public officials, including integrity, fairness, loyalty to the public interest and responsible use of discretion.

The field concerned with administering planned social and economic change in newly independent or low-income states, emphasising goal orientation, innovation and capacity rather than routine maintenance.

The ability of a state's institutions to formulate and deliver policies, raise and spend revenue, manage staff and respond to crises, reflecting resources, skills, systems and political support.

A reform wave from the 1980s applying private-sector techniques to government: managerial autonomy, performance contracts, competition, outsourcing and customer orientation, with the state steering rather than rowing.

Deliberate, planned change to structures, procedures, staffing or culture of public organisations, aimed at improving performance, probity or responsiveness, and typically meeting resistance from affected interests.

The systematic approach to moving an organisation from a current to a desired state, addressing vision, communication, stakeholder buy-in, capability, incentives and consolidation of gains.

The country's career civil service, recruited centrally through competitive examination and organised into cadres, with general administration cadres typically staffing field and secretariat posts.

The sub-district tier of Bangladesh's field administration, headed by a senior civil servant who coordinates government offices locally and links central departments with union-level bodies.

The territorial network of decentralised government offices through which the centre delivers services and maintains order, as distinct from secretariat ministries that set policy.

The systematic study of administrative systems across countries to identify similarities, differences and context-dependent explanations, often using typologies of state tradition and bureaucratic structure.