Public administration, the implementation of 

government policies.
Today public administration is often regarded as including also some
responsibility for determining the policies and programs
of governments. Specifically, it is the planning, organizing, directing,
coordinating, and controlling of government operations.
Public administration is a feature of all nations, whatever
their system of government. Within nations public administration is
practiced at the central, intermediate, and local levels. Indeed, the
relationships between different levels of government within a single
nation constitute a growing problem of public administration.

In most of the world the establishment of highly trained

administrative, executive, or directive classes has made public
administration a distinct profession. The body of public
administrators is usually called the civil service. In the United States,
the elitist class connotations historically attached to the civil
service were consciously abandoned or from the early 20th century,
with the result that civil servants were recognized as professionals and
valued for their expertise.

Traditionally the civil service is contrasted with other bodies serving

the state full time, such as the military, the judiciary, and the police.
Specialized services, sometimes referred to as scientific or professional
civil services, provide technical rather than general administrative
support. Traditionally, in most countries, a distinction is also made
between the home civil service and those persons engaged abroad on
diplomatic duties. A civil servant, therefore, is one of a body of persons
who are directly employed in the administration of the internal affairs
of the state and whose role and status are not political, ministerial,
military, or constabulary.

Certain characteristics are common to all civil services. Senior civil

servants are regarded as the professional advisers to those who
formulate state policy. In some countries entry requirements for a
career in the higher civil service stress qualifications in technical fields
such as accounting, economics, medicine, and engineering. In other
countries legal training is deemed appropriate, and in others no
specific technical or academic discipline is required among candidates
for senior posts. Whatever their precise qualifications, senior civil
servants are professional in the sense that their experience of public
affairs is thought to provide them with the knowledge of the limits
within which state policy can be made effective and of the probable
administrative results of different courses of action. Civil servants in
every country are expected to advise, warn, and assist those
responsible for state policy and, when this has been decided, to
provide the organization for implementing it. The responsibility for
policy decisions lies with the political members of the executive (those
members who have been elected or appointed to give political
direction to government and, customarily, career civil servants).
Customarily, civil servants are protected from public blame
or censure for their advice. The acts of their administration may,
however, be subject to special judicial controls from which no member
of the executive can defend them.

Civil services are organized upon standard hierarchical lines, in which

a command structure rises pyramid-fashion from the lowest offices to
the highest. This command implies obedience to the lawful orders of a
superior, and in order to maintain this system the hierarchy of offices
is marked by fixed positions, with well-defined duties, specific powers,
and salaries and privileges objectively assessed. In some countries
there may be direct appointment to higher office of persons not
previously employed by the service, but even then a recognized system
of internal promotion emphasizes the nature of the hierarchical
pyramid.

This article discusses the growth of public administration through

history as well as its development under different political systems.
Special attention is paid to the problems of administrative
law and bureaucratic structure. For discussion of a subject integral to
public administration, see government economic policy. For further
discussion of the various regimes under which public administration
operates, see political system.
Public Administration defined by different Authors
According to L D White, Public administration consists of all those operations having for
their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy. On the other hand as
per Woodrow Wilson public administration is a detailed and systematic application of
law. One can also say that public administration is nothing but the policies, practices,
rules and regulation etc., in action.
Now can public administration be divorced from social and political systems; certainly
not and therefore emerged another definition provided by F.A.Nigro, who argues that
public administration is essentially a cooperative group effort in public setting. Secondly,
it covers all the three branches of government machinery, the executive, the legislative
and the judicial. He further added that since public administration plays a crucial role in
formulation of policies therefore it is a part of the political process as well (for e.g. Bills
and Acts). Nigro also said that public administration is different from private
administration in numerous ways and that it interacts with various private groups and
individuals in providing services to the community.
Also, on the nature of public administration there have been two popular views, one
being the Integral view and the other one is the Managerial view. The Integral view is
all-encompassing and consists of sum total of all managerial, clerical, technical and
manual activities and employees form all levels. This view was endorsed by L D White
and Dimock. It may differ from one agency to another depending on their sphere of
work. On the other hand, the Managerial view, as the name suggests says that the
public administration involves only the managerial activities. Simon, Smithburg,
Thompson and Luther Gulick supported this view. After having said that; the word
administration itself is highly contextual, and may vary in meaning and definition from
one organization to another.
So if you want to understand it from the context and setting of an organization, it can be
roughly explained that; the top leadership or the Board decides the vision, mission,
short and long term goals and the business unit heads then draw out action plans and
create or reform processes, allot responsibilities, direct planning, get people on board
and start working towards achieving those set goals as per defined guidelines. So, the
Board can be the Government and the Business Unit Heads and their teams can be the
public administrators who are the implementer and actually the people who run the
show. In the next section we shall make an effort to understand whether public and
private administrations are similar, different or are there any overlaps between the two.
 According to Simon - “By Public Administration is meant the activities of the executive
branches of the national, state, & local governments.”
According to Willough - “Public Administration in broadest sense denotes the work
involved in the actual conduct of governmental affairs, and in narrowest senses denotes
the operations of the administrative branch only.”
According to Gullick - “Public Administration is that part of the science of administration
which has to do with government and thus, concerns itself primarily with the executive
branch where the work of th government is done.”
According to Waldo - “Public Administration is the art and science of management as
applied to the affairs of the state.”
Marshall E. Dimock - “Administration is concerned with ‘what’ and ‘How’ of the
government. What is the subject matter, the technical knowledge of afield which
enables the administrator to perform his tasks. The ‘How’ is the technique of
management according to which co-operative programmes are carried to success?”
All above modern definitions of Public Administration emphasize the value based
character of Public Administration and Public Administration as a science and art of
administration. A close scrutiny of the definitions reveal that Public Administration has
following important characteristics or features.

Characteristics of Public Administration

 It is part of executive branch of government.
 It is related with the activities of the state.
 It carries out the public policies.
 It realize the aspirations of the people as formulated
 Waldo and other thinkers insist on the commitment and dedication to the
wellbeing of the people. Otherwise Public Administration behaves in a
mechanical, impersonal and inhuman way.
 Public Administration is politically neutral.