Scope of Public Administration

4.1 POSDCORB View (Gulick, 1937)

Luther Gulick's POSDCORB acronym defines the functions of the chief executive:

Letter	Function	Meaning
P	Planning	Mapping goals, methods, and resources
O	Organising	Creating structure, assigning duties
S	Staffing	Human resources — recruitment, training, placement
D	Directing	Providing leadership and decisions
Co	Co-ordinating	Linking different parts of the organisation
R	Reporting	Information flow up and down the hierarchy
B	Budgeting	Financial planning, accounting, control

Criticism of POSDCORB: (i) Overlooks informal organisation; (ii) Too top-down; (iii) Ignores external environment and politics; (iv) Herbert Simon called these "proverbs" because they were often contradictory.

4.2 Subject-Matter View (Pfiffner, Simon)

The broader view holds that PA covers all government activities:

1. Organisation — structure, hierarchy, departments
2. Personnel administration — recruitment, training, promotion, conduct
3. Financial administration — budgeting, accounting, audit
4. Materials management — procurement, logistics
5. Policy process — planning, formulation, implementation, evaluation
6. Public relations — interface with citizens and media

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