Public administration is an academic discipline that deals with the implementation of public policy by government workers. It also involves management of programs in the public framework. It operates by managing every arm of public service in the central government, states and regional levels.
Therefore, it contributes to shaping the future of a state. Kettl and Fessler (2009, pp. 53), note that public administration is a secondary field branching from the discipline of political science
One of the major reasons for creating a separate discipline of public administration and graduate schools of public policy was that public administration had methodologically given poor records. Although public administration has made forceful efforts within the field of study, it has purely specialized to public governance.
The problems that public administrators can address today categorically differ from the earlier theory problems addressed by public administration. Public administration as a discipline narrows the student’s scope of learning to public management study only.
Graduate schools of public policy enable students internationally to pursue foundation courses and research in public policy research, international trade and management in public sector. The public policy program covers a wide range of elements including economics, statistics, political science, international developments, sociology and public finance.
While public administration applies within a single disciple, graduate schools of public policy apply a wide scope of other disciples to the public domain. These disciplines may include management information systems, project management, organization behavior, operations research and quantitative analysis.
Public administrators should enroll for this program since masters in public administration equips government employees with the required managerial skills. The managerial skills recruit them to serve in higher rank positions within governmental and non-governmental organizations.
The program equips public administrators with the knowledge for defining roles, principles and growth of public administration. It also helps in defining the implementation and management strategies in the public sector, together with the connection between legislators and organization management. The program also provides the civil servants with the expertise to carry out budgetary and financial management processes.
Masters in public administration equips public administrators with knowledge in political science, strategic managerial skills and policy analysis methods. Although this program has been of equal help to the civil servants, it has a drawback since it focuses majorly on the study of international affairs instead of constitutional affairs, which is more important in governance (Kettl & Fessler, 2009).
Political science centers on the principles and practices of politics in the public sphere. It also contributes in the analysis and description of political stimulus and system. Political science takes five major subdivisions: public policy, international relations, political theory, comparative politics, and national politics.
Business administration primarily centers on taxation while public administration centers on methods of improving integrity, efficiency, security and success in public services especially in non-taxable sectors.
The field of public administration on the other hand consists of creation of state, local government and central government agencies. These agencies play a vital role in overseeing, managing and administering public forums through legislative, judicial or executive authority within a given geographical area.
It centrally focuses on the structure of government policies, government programs and the behavior of government officials. According to some political science scholars, public administration is a branch of political science (Worldwide Learn, 2011).
Conclusion
Public administration has a major role to play in delivery to the public officials. It has a substantial theory and richer methodologies required in examining the government management. This is a vital requirement in the debates about public reforms.
Public administration therefore, has a richer understanding and analysis of the forces between administration and making of policies. Generally, public administration is aiming at analyzing and structuring the management of programs in the public sector in a war recognized by public organizations.
References
Kettl, D., Fessler, J. W. (2009). The Politics of the Administrative Process. Washington DC: CQ Press.
Worldwide Learn. (2011). Guide to college majors in Public Administration. Retrieved From https://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/business/public-administration-major.htm