Public Administration and Governance Fundamentals
Public administration and governance fundamentals tests how well you understand how public bodies are organised, how policy moves from idea to implementation, and what makes governance accountable and effective. Administrative ethics, citizen participation and digital service delivery are also common themes.
Organising principles
Classical administration describes the functions of management as POSDCORB: planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting. Weber's bureaucracy stresses hierarchy, written rules, impersonality and merit-based recruitment. Key structural principles include unity of command (one supervisor per subordinate), span of control (how many subordinates one manager can supervise), and delegation (transfer of authority, with accountability retained by the delegator). Decentralisation transfers authority to lower levels or separate bodies; deconcentration is merely relocating staff.
Policy cycle
Agenda setting → formulation → adoption → implementation → monitoring and evaluation. The policy cycle is iterative, not strictly linear. Evaluate with outputs (services delivered) and outcomes (changes in conditions), not inputs (money spent).
Governance and accountability
Good governance is commonly described through transparency, accountability, participation, rule of law, responsiveness, equity and effectiveness. Accountability can be political (to the legislature), administrative (to supervisors and audit), legal (to courts) and social (to citizens and media). New Public Management borrows private-sector tools: performance targets, contracting out and citizen charters.
Worked example
A department adds a second approval layer for routine purchases, so officers report to both their unit head and a new procurement cell. Which principle is most directly weakened? Reasoning: two supervisors create conflicting instructions, so unity of command is weakened. Span of control is about the number of reports, not the number of bosses; delegation is about authority transfer. The answer is unity of command.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating delegation as abdication: the delegator remains accountable.
- Confusing efficiency (cost per unit) with effectiveness (goal achievement).
- Judging a programme by its budget rather than its outcomes.
- Mixing decentralisation with deconcentration.
- Assuming accountability means only financial audit; it also covers performance and conduct.