Multi-Disciplinary Course (MDC) in Public Administration

Semester 1 PUB-MDC-1-101
Introduction to Public Administration

Unit- I
Chapter 2: Public and Private Administration
Dr. Vibha Sharma
Associate Professor & Head (Retired)
Department of Public Administration
MCM DAV College for Women, Chandigarh
https://vibhasharma.in/

Objectives
The objectives of the chapter are to make the students aware of:
− The similarities between Public and Private Administration;
− The difference between Public and Private Administration

Introduction
Public Administration is concerned with the formulation and implementation of Public Policies. It also
focuses on the provision of services to the citizens. Public Administration is the apolitical instrument of
the government that operates within the Constitutional and Legal framework of a country. It covers all
three branches, i.e. executive, legislative and judicial, and their inter-relationships.
Private Administration is the management of an enterprise/business by an individual or a team of
individuals for their benefit. It is non-political and basically for the profit motive or benefit to the
individual/group/teams. It also formulates relevant policies for achieving its goals.
There are divergent views regarding the similarities and dissimilarities between Public and Private
Administration. Some scholars like L. Urwick, M.P. Follet, and Henri Fayol believe that they are similar
to each other as whereas other scholars like Herbert A Simon and Paul H. Appleby feel that there are sharp
differences between the Public and Private Administration.

Similarities
Scholars like Henri Fayol, Urwick, and Mary Parker Follett believe that Public and Private Administration
have many common features and that the difference between them is one of degree rather than kind.
Similarities between the two are as follows:
1. Scope of Activities: The scope of activities in both Public and Private Administration have
increased manifold due to liberalisation and the subsequent opening up of the New Industrial
Policy of 1991. Several sectors, including power generation, civil aviation, and
telecommunications, have been de-reserved, so the private sector can set up industries in these
sectors and give competition to the government sector, thereby improving the services.
2. Nation Building: Both Public and Private Administration have an important role to play in nation-
building activities, including building and setting up infrastructural facilities, providing health
facilities and other related services, setting up educational institutions, and providing educational
facilities at all levels – school, college and university education. The Private Administration is also
taking part in ‘giving back to society’, activities by utilising a certain part of their profit on
activities like environmental sustainability, uplift of the weaker sections, promoting gender
equality, education and health-related activities under Corporate Social Responsibility.

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 Chapter – 2 Public and Private Administration

3. Bureaucratic Structure: Both Public and Private Administration have a bureaucratic structure
with features like division of work, written rules and regulations, hierarchical setup, etc.
4. Management Techniques: Both Public and Private Administration have similar techniques of
planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting. Project/
Programme management techniques like - PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique),
CPM (Critical Path Method), Cost-Benefit Analysis, Inventory Control Techniques, etc. are also
used in both.
5. Employment Legislation: The employees of both Public and Private Administration are governed
under similar employment legislation made by the government.
6. Union Activities: The employees of both Public and Private Administration can form unions and
associations to protect their rights.
7. Dynamic Nature: Both Public and Private Administration are adopting sustainable practices to
cope with the environmental changes and be relevant on a long-term basis in the highly
competitive and daunting environment.
Dissimilarities/Distinctions
Public and Private Administration, despite some similarities, have several differences too. According
to H.A. Simon, both Public and Private Administration are opposed to each other in the following
manner:
i) Public Administration is bureaucratic, whereas Private Administration is business-like.
ii) Public Administration is characterised by red tape, whereas Private Administration is free from
it; and
iii) Public Administration is political, whereas Private Administration is non-political.

Dissimilarities/Distinction
Following are the dissimilarities/distinction between Public and Private Administration:
SNo. Basis Public Administration Private Administration
1 Political Public Administration works under the In Private Administration, the
Control overall control of the Political Wing of entrepreneur does not function under
the government. the political heads.
Example: The Secretary to the The bigger organisations have a board
government, a civil servant, reports to of directors to guide them in their
the Minister, who is the political head of decision-making processes. They work
a department. The minister reports to the as per the market forces.
Prime Minister, who is the political head Example: Reliance Industries Ltd -
in the case of the Union Government. https://www.ril.com/OurCompany/Le
Organisational Structure of Department adership/BoardOfDirectors.aspx
of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance: Tata Motors: -
https://doe.gov.in/organization- https://www.tatamotors.com/organisati
structure on/our-leadership/
2 Motive Public Administration is not profit- Profit is the main motive of the
oriented. Social welfare and entrepreneur in Private
development are its main motives. Even Administration. The business will not
 Multi-Disciplinary Course (MDC) in Public Administration
Semester 1 PUB-MDC-1-101
Introduction to Public Administration

the industries set up by the government be sustainable if there is no profit, as

have social objectives along with private industries do not receive public
economic objectives. funds
Examples: Example:
− The government opens schools for the- Private schools are set up by
education and welfare of the children individuals or industries with a motive
and not for earning profit. to earn money.
− The government provides free and (As per the Right to Education Act
compulsory education for students up to 2009 now the schools under private
the age of 14 years. management have to provide
educational facilities to children
belonging to the weaker sections)
3 Political As Public Administration is under the Private Administration is relatively
Interference direct control of the political heads, there free from political interference, as they
is a great deal of political interference in don’t work under political heads.
it. Rather, the Behemoths or Business
houses influence the decisions taken by
Example: While setting up industrial
the Political parties.
units, instead of economic and technical
feasibility studies, political Extensive economic and technical
considerations may become more feasibility studies are the basis for
important. setting up or expanding the industrial
units.
4 Scope of The scope of activities in Public The scope of activities in Private
Activities Administration is comprehensive, as it Administration is limited as compared
not only performs several traditional to the public sector, as it cannot
functions, but it also fulfils many basic undertake activities that require a large
needs of the people. amount of investment. For instance,
setting up the Railways, Atomic
For instance, the Provision of health
Energy Plants, Research &
services through government
Development in the field of Defence,
dispensaries, water and electricity
Space, etc.
services through the respective
departments, and educational services
through schools, colleges, etc. Note: The Indian Railways have
During COVID-19 the scope of started Private Trains to operate on
activities undertaken by the government certain sections, and the number will
increased manifold. be increased in due course.
5 Nation Nation-building is one of the most The Private sector prefers to set up
Building important tasks of Public industrial units in well-developed
Administration. It sets up Public Sector areas. Except for a few big industrial
units in the remote corners of the country houses like the Tata, Reliance, etc, the
for the development of the area. private sector does not take much
interest in the nation-building
exercises.

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 Chapter – 2 Public and Private Administration

Note: The Public-Private Partnership

model enables the role of the private
sector in nation-building.
PPP Mode:
https://www.pppinindia.gov.in/pppac-
authoritywises/pppac-projects-
list_Ministry-of-Railways
6 Equitable/ As per the law of the land, public A Private Administrator is not bound
Uniform officials cannot show favour or to provide equitable/uniform treatment
Treatment disfavour to any person or organisation to everyone. He may provide a service
on any ground, i.e., sex, race, religion, to one person and refuse the same to
region, etc. A public official must treat the other person.
all citizens equitably by providing them
with uniform treatment.
7 Employment Public Administration is the biggest Private Administration is not as big an
Opportunities employer in the country. Indian employer as compared to Public
Railways, India Post, Public Sector Administration.
Undertakings at the central and state
levels, and governmental departments
are major employers in the country,
besides the Indian Armed Forces. Note – We also have the Public-Private
Though due to outsourcing and Partnership model, which also
privatisation, the number of provides jobs to people.
employment opportunities in the public
sector is reducing.
8 Anonymity In the field of Public Administration, the In Private Administration, the
officials remain incognito, i.e. work organisations run in the name of the
from behind the curtain. They conduct entrepreneur concerned. Along with
the affairs of any organisation in the earning money, the person earns a
name of the state, in their official name for himself in the market.
capacity. For instance, Tata Industries, Birla
Group, and Reliance Industries are
prominent private sector organisations,
and people are aware of the names of
their owners.
9 Rules and Governmental rules and regulations are There is more flexibility in the Private
Regulations strict as compared to the Private ones. Administration. Due to flexibility,
Due to rigid rules and regulations, the timely decisions are taken. Due to
decisions are delayed. Delayed timely decisions, Red-Tapism is less
decisions or Red-Tapism mean less and there is more efficiency and
productivity and more losses. productivity.

10 Public Public Administration is prone to Private Administration is not prone to

Scrutiny and widespread public scrutiny and public scrutiny and criticism, as a
Criticism criticism, as a public official’s actions private entrepreneur does not function
are scrutinised both by the press and the under the watchful eyes of the press or
 Multi-Disciplinary Course (MDC) in Public Administration
Semester 1 PUB-MDC-1-101
Introduction to Public Administration

public. This results in his being cautious the public. Due to this, he is relatively
while making decisions. One wrong act free in his approach to deal with certain
on his part may discredit all the good situations.
work done.

11 Complexity Public Administration, especially at the Private Administration is well-knit and

higher levels of the government. It is compact.
very complex. It is characterised by an
entangled and ambiguous structure, far
from the cognisance of commoners.
They are supposed to be transparent to
the public, for whom they have been
established and structured.
12 Monopoly In certain industries, there is a monopoly There is no monopoly in Private
in the field of Public Administration Administration. More than one
because no one is allowed to establish or organisation manufactures and
run parallel services, such as Railways. supplies the same commodity to the
Atomic Energy Plants people in the market. In the present
times, many areas/sectors have been
opened, and the monopoly of the
government has been reduced.
(The government has allowed private Mobile Connections providing
parties in many fields like electricity, companies:
civil aviation, postal services, https://www.trai.gov.in/consumer-
telecommunications, etc.) info/telecom/service-providers-list
13 Financial Public Administration is subject to strict The Private Administration is
Control financial controls and audits. Control is relatively free from such strict
exercised by the executive and the financial controls. They are not
legislature as the government spends accountable to the people, as public
taxpayers' money collected by the way money is not involved. Money is, in
of taxes, fees, fines, etc. Public most cases, invested by the person
Administration is thus accountable to either himself or by his partners.
the people through the Parliament.
14 Competition There is less competition in Public Competition is a dominant factor in
Administration so the quality of the Private Administration. Competition
services is at times not up to the mark. results in providing better services and
improvement in quality.
There is competition in certain sectors
like Banking, Postal services,
Telecomm, etc. and the quality of
services has improved as compared to
earlier.
15 Capacity Compared to Private Administration Optimum utilization of capacity is
Utilization optimum utilization of capacity is not there in the Private Administration.
there in Public Administration. It may be The machines are maintained properly
due to several reasons like strikes, lack so that they don’t breakdowns and
strikes are almost unheard of.
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 Chapter – 2 Public and Private Administration

of raw materials, lack of trained staff, or

simply indifference of the employees.
16 Social Prestige A high degree of social prestige is Social prestige is not at the same level
involved in Public Administration as it in the case of the Private
provides social services to the people. Administration, as they are not so
much involved in social services.
17 Public Public Administration has borrowed the The work of the Private Administration
Relations principle of public relations from Private is dependent on public relations. The
Administration. Though they have yet Private Administrator depends and
not mastered the technique properly, invests a lot of money in public
efforts have certainly produced results. relations.
18 Job Security There is job security in Public There is less or no job security in
Administration. The civil servants and Private Administration. The policy of
other employees are protected under the hire and fire is prevalent.
Constitution of India.
19 Uplift of Public Administration tries to bring the The Private Administration is under no
Weaker weaker sections of the society at par with such obligation to provide reservations
Sections the other sections of the society by for the weaker sections. The merit and
providing reservations to these sections experience of a person is the basic
at the different levels of government and criterion on which a person is
public services. appointed.

Conclusions: Public Administration and Private Administration both have several similar and dissimilar
characteristics. Differences between the two are only of degree and not of kind. Though Public
Administration has acquired several distinctive features like accountability, consistency etc., yet most of
the activities in both of them are similar. We can thus say that they are complementary to each other. In
fact, in the present situation, we have the Public-Private Partnership in which both Public and Private
Administration collaborate to perform various developmental and welfare-oriented activities.

Important Terms/Concepts/Information
1. Simon’s Distinction: According to H.A. Simon, both Public and Private Administration are
opposed to each other in the following manner:
a. Public Administration is bureaucratic, whereas Private Administration is business-like.
b. Public Administration is characterised by red tape, whereas Private Administration is free
from it; and
c. Public Administration is political, whereas Private Administration is non-political.
2. Principle of Anonymity: In the field of Public Administration, the officials remain incognito,
i.e. work from behind the curtain. They conduct the affairs of any organisation in the name of
the state, in their official capacity.
3. Scope of Activities: The scope of activities in Public Administration is comprehensive, as it
not only performs several traditional functions, but it also fulfils many basic needs of the
people.
4. Public-Private Partnership: The Public-Private Partnership model involves both the public or
governmental sector and the private sector collaboration to provide services to the people.
 Multi-Disciplinary Course (MDC) in Public Administration
Semester 1 PUB-MDC-1-101
Introduction to Public Administration

5. Monopoly: In certain industries, there is a monopoly in the field of Public Administration

because no one is allowed to establish or run parallel services, such as Railways. Atomic Energy
Plants
6. Social Prestige: A high degree of social prestige is involved in Public Administration, as it
provides social services to the people.

Short and Long Questions

Chapter: Public and Private Administration
Short Answer Type Questions
1. Give three points of distinction between Public and Private Administration.
2. Write three Similarities between Public and Private Administration.
3. Write Simon’s distinction between Public and Private Administration.
Long Question
1. Discuss the Similarities and Distinctions between Public and Private Administration.
2. Distinguish between Public and Private Administration.
3. Compare Public Administration with Private Administration.

Suggested Readings
1. Sharma, Vibha. Fundamentals of Public Administration for Semester – I, Jalandhar: New
Academic Publishing Co, 2024
2. Avasthi, Amreshwar and Shriram Maheshwari. Public Administration. Agra: Lakshmi Narian
Agarwal, 2016-2017.
3. Avasthi, Amreshwar and Anand Prakash Avasthi. Public Administration in India. Agra:
Lakshmi Narian Agarwal, 2001.
4. Basu, Rumki. Public Administration Concepts and Theories. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers
Private Limited, 1998.
5. Bhagwan, Vishnoo and Vidya Bhushan. Public Administration. New Delhi: S. Chand, 2005.
6. Bhattacharya, Mohit. New Horizons of Public Administration. New Delhi: Jawahar
Publishers & Distributers, 2016.
7. Fadia, B.L and Kuldeep Fadia. Public Administration - Administrative Theories. Thirteenth
Revised Edition. Agra: Sahitya Bhawan, 2017.
8. Naidu, S. P. Public Administration. New Delhi: New Age International, 2006.
9. Sharma, M. P., B. L. Sadana and Harpreet Kaur. Public Administration in Theory and
Practice. Allahabad: Kitab Mahal, 2015.
10. Relevant reading material from egyankosh - http://egyankosh.ac.in/
11. Relevant reading material from e PG Pathshala - https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/