Ecological Theory

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6.1 John M. Gaus — Pioneer of Ecological Approach

John M. Gaus (1900–1969) was the first to apply the ecological approach to PA in his essay "Ecology and Administration" (1947). He argued that PA must be studied in the context of its environment — the physical, social, economic, and political conditions that surround it. Gaus identified seven environmental factors affecting administration: people, place, physical technology, social technology, wishes and ideas, catastrophe, and personality.

6.2 Fred W. Riggs — Comparative and Ecological PA

Fred W. Riggs (1917–2008) is the foremost figure in the ecological/comparative approach to PA. His key works:

The Ecology of Public Administration (1961)
Administration in Developing Countries: The Theory of Prismatic Society (1964)

Riggs' Core Argument: Western administrative models cannot be transplanted to developing countries without modification. Each country's administrative system is a product of its unique ecological context — history, culture, religion, social structure, economic conditions.

6.3 Riggs' Three Models

Riggs developed a spectrum model from traditional to modern societies:

Model	Society Type	Administrative Features
Fused (Agraria)	Traditional/pre-industrial	Single structure performs all functions (king = judge = taxman = military); undifferentiated
Diffracted (Industria)	Modern industrial/Western	High functional specialisation; separate agencies for each function; clear hierarchy
Prismatic	Intermediate/developing	Mix of fused and diffracted; modern institutions coexist with traditional practices

Key analogy: Riggs used the prism — just as white light entering a prism contains all colours but they are not yet separated, a prismatic society contains elements of both traditional and modern but they are imperfectly differentiated.

6.4 Features of Prismatic Society (Sala Model)

The administrative unit in a prismatic society is called the Sala (Spanish for room/office). Characteristics:

Formalism: Wide gap between formal (written) rules and actual practice. Laws exist but are not enforced; constitutional rights exist but are not realised.
Heterogeneity: Different, inconsistent elements coexist — modern courts alongside caste panchayats; formal hospitals alongside traditional healers; elected local bodies alongside hereditary village headmen.
Poly-normativism: Multiple, competing value systems exist simultaneously — Western bureaucratic norms alongside traditional caste obligations; merit alongside nepotism.
Nepotism and clects: Administration is influenced by family, caste, and ethnic loyalties (clect = a cross between clan and clique). Recruitment is often based on personal connections, not merit alone.
Bazaar-Canteen: The market economy coexists with non-market exchange — government services are distributed through patron-client networks alongside formal channels.

Application to India:

Formal RTI rights (diffracted) coexist with information withholding (fused traditional)
Merit-based IAS selection (diffracted) coexists with caste reservations and political pressure
Modern district administration (diffracted) coexists with village customary law (fused)
E-governance portals (diffracted) coexist with offline, connection-based service delivery (prismatic)

6.5 Systems Theory (Ludwig von Bertalanffy, Katz & Kahn)

Ludwig von Bertalanffy developed General Systems Theory (1940s). Daniel Katz and Robert Kahn applied it to organisations in The Social Psychology of Organizations (1966).

Key systems concepts applied to PA:

Open system: Organisations interact with their environment — they receive inputs (laws, resources, public demands), transform them (policy process), and produce outputs (services, regulations, governance)
Feedback loop: Outputs become inputs for the next cycle; citizen satisfaction/dissatisfaction feeds back to policy adjustment
Entropy: Without energy input, systems decline — organisations need continuous adaptation
Equifinality: Different paths can lead to the same administrative outcome