CHAPTER ONE:

THE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION

1. Introduction

The essence of development administration is to bring about change through integrated,

organised and properly directed governmental action. In the recent past the governments in most
of the developing nations have shifted their focus on development by means of planned change
and people's participation.

The growing welfare functions of the government have brought into limelight the limitations of
the traditional theory of administration. The essence of administration in the present conditions
lies in its capacity to bring about change in the structure and behaviour of different
administrative institutions, to develop an acceptance for the change and to create a system which
can sustain change and improve the capacity of institutions to change.

All this calls for renewed efforts on the part of institutions engaged in the tasks of development.
Thus development administration as an area of study and as means to realise developmental
goals assumes importance. This unit will highlight the meaning, features and genesis of
development administration.

1.2 The concept of Development

It is imperative to be clear from the outset (beginning) what we mean by development. The term
development is an ambiguous concept that assumes d/t meanings; depending on the context in
w/c it is used. Some authorities use the terms „development‟ & „growth‟ interchangeably. Others
use words such as social change, evolution, progress, advancement & modernization as
synonyms of development when they refer a country. Others use the term development to mean
fundamental changes in social attitudes & institutions.

Development means making a better life for everyone. In the present context of a highly uneven
world, a better life for most people means, essentially, meeting basic needs: sufficient food to
maintain good health; a safe, healthy place in which to live; affordable services available to
everyone; and being treated with dignity and respect.

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Beyond meeting these needs, basic to human survival, the course taken by development is
subject to the material and cultural visions of different societies. The methods and purposes of
development are subject to popular, democratic decision making. Many people might agree that
a better life for all is a desirable goal and that development as its theory is time and thought well
spent.

Development is a founding belief of modernity. And modernity is that time in Western history
when rationality supposed it could change the world for the better. In development, all the
modern advances in science and technology, in democracy and social organization, in
rationalized ethics and values, fuse into the single humanitarian project of deliberately and
cooperatively producing a far better world for all.

In reference to developing countries, the concept economic development means economic

growth. Therefore, development implies change in specific direction that the authorities regard as
a potential & highly important to the welfare of society.

Development refers to a planned, country-wide, continuous process designed to improve the

overall public aspects. Old definition of development: - development is the achievement of
economic growth & hence improved living standards. But economic growth is one component of
development.

Development Vs growth: - development is more than just growth, though growth implies
change. Growth is the process of expansion or increase of activities at any established level of
development in the continuum from agrarian to technologically advanced societies. Growth &
development are distinct processes, but they are also closely interrelated, complementary &
mutually supportive. Development is a process, not a program. It is an activity of the society as a
whole. It can be stimulated, directed or assisted by government policies, laws & special
programs.

Development is comprehensive; it includes economic, political, socio-cultural & technological

progress. Peoples‟ wants & needs are unlimited. Development is thus a process of enlarging the
choices for all people, not for just for one part of society. Development is about improving the

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quality of people‟s lives, expanding their ability to shape their own future. The fundamental
purpose of development is to enlarge all human choices, not just income.

1.2. Meaning & definition of DA

The essence of development administration is to bring about change through integrated,

organized and properly directed government action. In the recent past governments in most of
developing countries have shifted their focus on development by means of planned change and
peoples participation. The essence of administration in the present conditions lies in its capacity
to bring about change in the structure and behavior of different administrative institutions, to
develop an acceptance for the change and to create a system which can sustain change and
improve the capacity of institutions to change.

There is no uniform definition of development administration which is agreeable to all. But we

can at least arrive at certain basic features and characteristics in order to understand the concept
of development administration; we should also try to understand the meaning of the concept viz.,
administration of development and development of administration.

i) Administration of Development

Development is integral to the aims and activities of the government especially in the developing
countries. Because of paucity of resources, human and material in their counties, the need for
making optimum utilisation of available means and augmenting new means assumes a great
importance. Development administration thus becomes a means through which the government
brings quantitative and qualitative changes in an economy. Government is engaged in not only
fixing priorities but also making efforts to realise them.

Before we analyse the different definitions and meanings of the term, it should be mentioned that
development administration is an effort towards planned transformation of the economy
involving not only the sphere of administration but also formulation of policies and indeed the
society as a whole. It is an effort at the synchronisation of changes in all spheres of development-
economic, political, social and cultural. Thus development is not only viewed in terms of growth
process, but it includes a process of social change.

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The State plays a leading role in bringing about development through its administrative system.
In order to discharge this role it requires a distinct type of Support by administration which
involves, as has been observed by Swerdlow, special understanding of problems in the
developing countries.

These must be perceptible at different operative levels i.e., officials must make enough different
decisions, adopt enough different policies and engage in enough different activities to warrant
the different designations of development administration. Thus development administration is
simply termed as an action or functioning part of the government administration. It is action-
oriented and places the administration at the centre in order to facilitate the attainment of
development objectives.

For Harry J. Friedman development administration means:

i) The implementation of programmes designed to bring about modernity (i.e. socioeconomic

progress and nation-building), and

ii) The changes within the administrative system which increase its capacity to implement the
programmes.

According to Hahn Beenlee, development administration is involved in managing a government

or an agency so that it acquires an increasing capability to adapt to and act upon new and
continuing social changes with a view to achieve sustained growth.

Gant observed that development administration is "that aspect of Public Administration in which
focus of attention is on organizing and administering public agencies in such a way as to
stimulate and facilitate &fined programmes of social and economic progress. It has the purpose
of making change attractive and possible." Thus development administration involves two
elements:

1) The bureaucratic process that initiates and facilitates socio-economic progress by making the
optimum use of talents and expertise available; and

2) Mobilisation of administrative skills so as to speed up the development process.

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Development administration concentrates on the needs and desires of the people, it is concerned
with formulation of plans, programmes, policies and projects and their implementation. It plays a
central role in carrying out planned change i.e. it is concerned with planning, co-ordination,
control, monitoring and evaluation of plans and programmes. It is not only concerned with the
application of policies as determined by the political representatives in existing situation but also
with introducing efforts to modify existing situations so as to serve the cause of the masses.

The administration of development implies:

i) The execution of programmes designed to bring about progressive improvement

ii) The changes within an administrative system which increases its capacity to implement such
programmes. In brief, administration of development involves the following objectives:

i) Application of innovative strategies for development

ii) Emphasis on development at the grassroots level. Development has to be a need-oriented and
self-reliant process

iii) Stress on social development and human capital as a major resource

iv) Development has to be viewed not merely as a technological problem but also as an
ideological norm

v) Profound and rapid change in order to establish a distinct and just social order

vi) Recognising and highlighting the unity, rather than dichotomy between politics and
administration

. vii) Effective and efficient use of scarce resources

viii) Creation of a politics-administrative environment which is oriented towards securing basic

needs of the population

ix) Freedom of administrative machinery to express its values and beliefs without fear or favour
on programmes and projects.

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 ii) Development of Administration or Administrative Development

Development Administration has to be efficient and effective. For that cause it has to aim at
enlargement of administrative capabilities and structural and behavioural change. It is this aspect
of administration that is called administrative development or development of administration. In
simple terms it means development of administrative system, or administrative health by
introducing-administrative rationalisation and institution building. The purpose implicit in this
concept is not merely changing the administrative procedures and channels but also bringing out
fundamental change in administration that leads to:

1) Political development,

2) Economic growth, and

3) Social change.

The development administration should evolve so as to commensurate with societal goals.

Development of administration further means cultural change in administration. The colonial
administrative culture is unsuitable to the changed socio-political ethos of the developing world.
Our British legacy has adversely affected the administration. The obsolete Acts e.g. Police Act,
1861, cannot take us towards the path of change.

Development of administration should refer to the creation of ability to adjust to new stimuli or
changes. The development of administration aims at qualitative and quantitative transformations
in administration with an eye on the performance of management of affairs. The term also
implies technological changes in administration so as to enable it to adopt new modes or
techniques of administration. Thus administrative development focuses on adaptability,
autonomy and coherence in administration.

In short, administrative development is concerned with:

1) The capacity of an administrative system to take decisions in order to meet the ever increasing
demands coming from the environment and with the objective of achieving larger political and
socioeconomic goals.

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2) Increase in size, in specialisation and division of tasks and in the professionalization of its
personnel.

3) A pattern of increasing effectiveness in the optimum utilisation of available means and further
augmentation of the means, if necessary.

4) Increase in administrative capability and capacity.

5) Transformation of existing administrative mechanism into new machinery through

modernising the bureaucracy by external inducement, transfer of technology and training.

6) Replacement of initiative, practices etc. with those based on realistic needs

7) Reducing the dependence on foreign experts by producing adequate trained manpower.

8) Promotion of development initiative.

9) Administrative reorganisation and rationalisation.

10) Making modernisation culturally related.

11) Removing or reducing bureaucratic immobility and widespread corruption.

12) Reorientation of established agencies, and the delegation of administrative powers to them.

13) Creation of administrators who can provide leadership in stimulating and supporting
programmes of social and economic improvement.

The meaning and importance of administrative development as an ingredient of development

administration has been well summed up by Caiden in the following words, "Administrative
reform is an essential ingredient of development in any country, irrespective of the speed and
direction of change. Administrative capacity becomes increasingly important in the
implementation of new policies, plans and ideas. The improvements in administrative capacity
may involve the removal of environmental obstacles, structural alternatives in traditional and
innovatory institutions bureaucratically organised or otherwise. This would also necessitate
changing individual and group attitudes and performance." The behaviour pattern of bureaucrats
is as crucial to development administration as the institutions and structures. The purpose of

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development of administration is to remove the administrative lag which seriously handicaps
governments in planning and executing co-ordinated programmes of economic and social
reforms.

The predominant concern of development administration is to design and administer such

development programmes which meet the developmental objectives. It is the administration
geared to the task of achieving certain clear cut and specified objectives and goals expressed in
operational terms. Thus development administration is defined as a process of action motivated
by and oriented to the achievement of certain predetermined goals. Actually administration of
development and development of administration are interrelated concepts. Both are dependent on
each other. Administration of development is as important as development of administration. To
achieve development goals it is essential that there is proper assessment of resources, proper plan
formulation, evaluation and. implementation, adequate involvement of people, emphasis on
technological change and self-reliance. At the same time we also need developed bureaucracy,
integrity in administration, initiative, innovativeness, delegation of powers, decentralised
decision-making etc.

Administrative development cannot take place without administrative change and reform. Both
the concepts support each other and development of administration is needed for administration
of development. As per F. Riggs 'development administration' and 'administrative development'
have a chicken and egg kind of relationship. Superiority of one concept over the other cannot be
established.

1.3. Nature of Development Administration

A) Structural and functional differentiation

In order to perform more & more diverse developmental functions, within the development
administration system as a whole as within each organization comprising it, a high degree of
division of labour or differentiation takes place to attempt to cope with such functions efficiently
& effectively. This trend is further accelerated by the use of modern technologies. This means
classification of functions in to specialized types. This process is accompanied by structural
specialization. The administrative structure tends to split up in to specialized organizations with
defined objectives & functions. Generally for undertaking many types of economic and social

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functions, the existing departmental organization may be modified & more flexible &
autonomous organizations such as companies, commissions, corporations & boards may be set
up as the need may arise.

B) Goal-orientation & innovation

As defined by Jagannadham, Development administration is a process of action motivated by &

oriented to achievement of certain predetermined goals. Development administration in a way is
concerned with the will to develop, mobilization of existing & new resources, and cultivation of
appreciate skills to achieve development goals. The clustering of innovation ideas and activities
involves a lot of risks. In fact, information of administrative and other innovations calls for an
earnest willingness to experiments and to take reasonable risks a willingness to question
accepted practices in every aspect of administration and development; the ability & willingness
to re-examine values which have hardened in to dogma and apply to dogma pragmatic tests of its
utility.

C) Flexibility and Adaptability

Innovations and change call for flexibility and adaptability to the changing environment. The
structure and functions of development administration are shaped by the requirement of goals.
The system of development administration is required to have the capacity to adapt itself to
changing general or contextual environment, and development meaningful relations with its task
environment which comprises other systems in organizations with which it has input-output
relations or transactions. Administrative capability, thus, means the flexibility of the system (set
up) to adjust to both types of environments.

D) New techniques & attitudes

While developing countries have taken up several new development responsibilities, they have
for most part still to adapt and modernize their administrative tools, techniques, organizational
structures and staffing patterns to the requirements of development. This is not totally a new
aspect of development administration, but in terms of urgency and magnitude of needs it is one
of the core problems. Here, there is a wide scope for the adoption of advanced techniques of
project planning and management, programming and evaluation of results, etc.

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 E) Citizen’s participation

No development programme can be successful without the involvement and participation of its
beneficiaries. One of the important dimensions of development administration is therefore,
participation of citizens in the development process. Such participation in view of the wide scope
and the large scale developmental functions & responsibilities of the government in the
developing countries is a sine qua non for the success of development plans. Development
administration pays increasing attention to programmes of community development, plans for
recognition and reorientation of institutions of urban local government and mobilization of
peoples‟ support, citizen‟s participation is also required for accelerating social change in areas
such as family planning, community development, etc.

F) Attitudinal changes

Besides sharpening the skills of the personnel right, type of administration for development
requires changes in the attitude of manpower. There is a growing recognition that the attitudes of
the civil service are ridden with procedural rigidities of the law and order of the state and have
not changed to meet the demands of new developmental responsibilities. Development
administration does call for some new attitudes and values such as initiative drive a sense of
responsibility to make decisions, a shift in the emphasis from procedures to end results, a
concern for the citizens‟ comforts and needs, etc. This also requires a change in the individuals
and group values & norms, and attitude of the political executive.

1.4. Two Facets of Development Administration [Development Administration and

Administrative Development].

In the literature on Development Administration, two notions have been interwoven: first the
"administration development" and second, the "development of administrative capacity". The
former is termed as “development Administration", and the latter administrative development".
Both the phenomena are interdependent any society experiencing notable development in its
political, economic, social and cultural systems is likely to affect in a matching manner, its
administrative system, and conversely a well-organized and competent administrative system is
likely to direct the process of all round development of society in a competent manner. These

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twin processes are so much interlinked that it is difficult to assert as to which would be more
prominent and which would precede the other.

Little wonder that Fred Riggs has found, in Development Administration" and administrative
Development" is a "chicken and egg" relationship. Whatever be the sequence, it is undeniable
that administrative development is an essential corollary to Development Administration.
Administrative Development implies the enhancement of the capacity and capability of an
administrative system to achieve the prescribed progressive goals. The process depends on
modernization of administrative structures and processes, induction of a spirit of innovation,
cultivating a highly motivating climate, increasing differentiation, effective integration, and
positive attitudinal and behavioural changes among the administrators. The strategies of
administrative reform are a part of the process of administrative development.

1.5. Traditional Administration vs. Development Administration

With the emergence of development administration, some scholar& have attempted a distinction
between development and traditional administrations. The term traditional administration is used
as a synonym for 'general' administration and it is only limited to revenue, law, order, and
defence administration etc.

The distinctions are generally made on the following lines:

i) The objectives of traditional administration are simple while those of Development

Administration are multiple and variegated.
ii) Traditional administration has a limited scope of operating, while Development
administration as a much vaster scope of functioning.
iii) Development Administration is more complex in its parts and procedures than
traditional administration.
iv) Development Administration is larger in size than traditional administration.
v) Development Administration is much more innovative and creative than traditional
administration.

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 vi) Development Administration is dynamic in its functioning, while traditional
administration stresses upon stability.
vii) Rule-orientation is valued in traditional administration, while flexibility is considered a
virtue in Development administration.
viii) Participatory style of administration is a characteristic of Development Administration
while traditional administration is bureaucratic and authority-oriented.
ix) Development Administration is administration of planned change, while traditional
administration does not rely as much on planning.
x) Colonial bureaucracy is engaged dominantly in the performance of general
administrative functions, while the administrative system of an independent country is
primarily developmental in character.
xi) The administrative systems in developing countries are basically developmental in
orientation, while those in developed countries focus on general administration.

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 Chapter Two:

The Emergence and Evolution of Development Management

2.1 Introduction

The concept of 'development administration' has appeared on scene mainly after the Second
World War. The problems faced by the nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America which got free
from the colonial rule in 1940s were altogether different than the problems of the developed
nations. Consequent upon the positive policies and programmes made by the developing nations
to help the under-developed or developing ones, the concept of Development Administration
caught the fancy of the scholars to understand and analyse this concept and the role which Public
Administration could play in meeting out the challenges. In this unit, we will discuss the
evolution of development administration as a discipline as well as a process and also emphasise
on various approaches to the study of development administration. Lastly, we will highlight the
recent trends in the theory and practices of development administration.

2.2 Evolution of Development Administration and their empeding factors

1. Genesis of Development Administration: The 1950s

Ushering development in the developing and under-developed countries, the concept of

development administration emerged. Besides, the success in dealing with the effects of
depression and Second World War, the Marshal Plan for the reconstruction of Western Europe,
and the process of decolonisation provided the requisite background amounting to the coining of
the theory of development administration.

It was an Indian scholar, Goswami, who used the concept for the first time in 1955. Later on
good numbers of scholars all over the world have contributed to its enrichment.

Classical economists' view on development has been the important basis of the development
'theory in the 1950s with emphasis on increase in the GNP or per capita income. The economic
growth model based on the Keynesian economic approach (macro-economic approach) which
paved the way to development thinking sought to transform the ascriptive, particularistic and

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functionally diffused underdeveloped societies into the one having modernisation-achievement
orientation, universalism and functional specificity.

Besides Economics, disciplines like Political Science and Sociology, which viewed the
underdeveloped society as a closed traditional society stagnating in primitive isolation, also
contributed towards the concept of development administration.

The government became a crucial instrument in designing and administering goals for achieving
developmental objectives. It was argued that the twin objectives of stability and growth could be
achieved if the government designs monetary and fiscal policies. It amounted to the concept of
planned development having the assumption that the developing countries could be helped to
develop with the aid of western technology of administration. The important ingredients of the
development administration model were:

(i) Establishment of planning institutions and agencies;

(ii) Improvement of the Central administrative systems;

(iii) Budgeting and financial control; and

(iv) Personnel management and organisation and methods.

The administrative values prescribed in this period were efficiency, economy and rationality.
Besides, the principles of professionalism, hierarchy, unity of command, formalisation and
impersonality, span of control, authority commensurate with responsibility, staff and line,
decentralisation and delegation of authority became the basis of organisational structure.

Administrative development was another aspect which drew the attention of academics and
executives during this period. Personnel administration reforms centred on the problem of setting
up merit systems, position classification schemes, and central personnel agencies. The
introduction of the concepts of performance or programme budgeting in the US was termed as
crucial for improving efficiency and rationality in decision-making. During 1950s and early
1960s, which is considered as 'Technical Assistance Era in Public Administration', the US alone
spent $ 180 million on aid for Public Administration, stress was also on training of
administrators to capacitate them to cope with the complex problems of development. In the

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training programmes, techniques, like role-play, Case Method, T-groups, etc. were made use of.
The Technical Assistance Programme insisted on creating training institutions in many countries
of Asia, Africa and Latin America on the one hand and imparting training to the people from
these countries in one donor country on the other. However, there was an adaptation gap between
the training programmes and the needs of the recipient country. It has been argued by Esman that
the rationale behind the technical assistance was as follows:

1) Economic growth and modernisation occurs through a deterministic sequence of stages. All
societies are destined to participate in this beneficial evolution, but it can be accelerated by wise
policy.

2) Development can be facilitated by transfer of resources and technologies from advanced to

underdeveloped countries. Imparted capital speeds up growth, while technology increases
efficiency and facilitates modernisation.

3) State is a benevolent institution and the principal instrument of development. The Roosevelt
reforms and the Keynesian prescription for economic management all required a proactive state.

4) Balanced development requires the mastery of modern science, including the science of
economics and control of the maid levers of public policy. Development decision is should be in
the hands of benevolent technocratic planners, protected by enlightened, modernising political
leaders.

5) Bureaucracy is the main vehicle and exemplification of modern administration. When its
members are adequately trained and equipped with appropriate technologies, it can be a reliable
and effective instrument of modernising elites.

6) The attentive public, specially the leaders of the developing countries eager for growth and
modernisation, will sacrifice other values in order to achieve these goals, and welcome the
material contributions and intellectual tutelage of Westerners.

7) The transformation from backwardness to progress will be rapid and benefits will be widely
shared. Since economic growth produces full employment and increased labour productivity,
there is little need for explicit concern with distributive issues.

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8) Development will yield enhanced well-being as well as the preconditions for political
democracy, but this depends on the maintenance of political stability. Since premature
democratic participation could overload and destabilise fragile political institutions, it should not
be emphasised during the transition period.

2 Development Administrations in the 1960s

Failure of Technical Assistance Programme in Public Administration

It could be said that the Technical Assistance Programme advanced the principle of emulative
development administration for building up of administrative capabilities in a prescriptive
manner. However, it has been criticised by many a scholars. Dwight Waldo, for example, has
termed it as "naive" and "a sad waste of scarce human resources". The reasons for the failure of
technical assistance can be summed up as follows:

1) The applicability of the development model was taken for granted in all countries, ignoring
the relevance of environmental context to administration and technology;

2) The concepts like efficiency, economy and rationality might be differently interpreted by the
developing or recipient country than the meaning given to them in the West;

3) It was planning without implementation. Furthermore, since planning has social, economic,
political and cultural dimensions also, many proposals for administrative reforms, for example,
could not be implemented for the lack of political support and support, from even the
bureaucracy.

4) Protagonists of Technical Assistance Programme did not have adequate knowledge and
information about administrative problems of specific sectors, like agriculture, health, education,
industry, labour, population control, etc., which was much needed to be dealt with in more
details.

5) The modern administration1 management techniques like CPM, PERT, Linear Programming,
network analysis, long-range planning and forecasting, cost-benefit analysis etc., were not
included for the purposes of transfer to the developing countries.

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6) Administrative reforms attempted during this period concentrated mainly on structural change
and not on attitudinal change.

The Contributions of the Comparative Administration Group (CAG)

The Group felt that as the classical concepts of administration in the third world were rigid,
narrow, and parochial and thus unfit in explaining for the cross-cultural situations as these
concepts were unable to answer the irrational, informal, and emotional behaviour of
administration. Further, the postulates of conventional organisational theory were suitable only
for "maintenance needs" rather than for "development needs". The technological-managerial
school having emphasis on planned and managed change was challenged by the Ecological
School which insisted on relating the organisational structures to other social structures. It
resulted into the idea that sociological context of administration is more relevant than mere
'organisational change and personnel manipulation.

The scholars in CAG insisted on a comparative analysis of the administrative systems of the
third world. The Group also advocated concentration on the strategies and requisites for attaining
public policy goals in the developing countries.

The 1960s ushered in a period of evaluation of results, doubts and repetition of old strategies. It
was also a period of a search for new concepts or analytical constructs which have cross-cultural
validity. The Public Administration academics sought alternative approaches to development
administration. They sought to examine the relationships between Public Administration and
social, economic, political and cultural environment. In other words, Public Administration was
seen in 'ecological perspective. The most renowned exponent of this approach has been Fred
Riggs. We shall discuss his views in some detail below.

The Contribution of Fred W. Riggs

Riggs has criticised the development administration model by observing that GNP increase may
not necessarily lead to improving the real life conditions of the people. Thus increase in the per
capita income does not serve as an indicator of development. He has rather preferred the physical
quality of life indicators and social and psychological quality of life index as the success of a
development policy.

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Riggs has analysed the structural functional features of the social and administrative systems of
the developing countries in his industria-transitia-agraria formulation. He puts the developing
countries in the category of prismatic society which is caught in between tradition fused and
modernity defracted and is undergoing the process of social change. The ecological approach
provided a vision that reflected interest in the examination of the relationship of non-
administrative factors to administrative ones.

The Empirical Approach to Development Administration

The period of the 1960s also saw a shift from normative approach to empirical approach. This
approach was undertaken to make a systematic study of the processes of institution-building
basic to the technical assistance enterprise of the United Nations and other aid agencies. The
fundamental units of analysis were the structures and their functions in different systems having
parallel characteristics. It is in contrast with the normative approach in which the main aim is to
prescribe ideal or at least better patterns of administrative structure and action. This approach is
implicit in most of the so-called principles of Public Administration works of Woodrow Wilson,
L.D. White, Fayol, Gullick, F.W. Taylor and others. It reflected American practice as a model,
especially for the people of the third world countries. The basic orientation is the quest for ideal
patterns and the identification of difficulties and obstacles to be overcome and problems to be
solved. Such endeavours seek to identify the universals of the administrative process.

3 The Development Administration in 1970s

Review of Development Strategies of the 1960s

By 1970s not only the meaning of development underwent change in so far as development goals
were conceived in terms of meeting basic human needs but also the development administration
model, to meet these objectives, saw changes in strategies and substantive programmatic actions.
The shifts in the approaches to the study of the theory and practice of development
administration were also discernible.

Public Administration shed its love for unidirectional emphasis. This period of the second U.N.
Development Decade, however, began in the background of report of the Commission on

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International Development on Technical Assistance Programme in 1969. The report has made it
vividly clear that the focus of the 1960s on administrative modernisation depicted as a technical
process involving the expert of western administrative methods, procedures and practices to the
newly Independent States needs a review and recast. It has been pointed out that the local people
were, though poor, yet not so irrational in decision-making. The development administration
problems were rooted in the political economy of the aid receiving countries and stressed on
inter-theoretic linkages to social explanation.

The Political-Economy Approach

Many scholars sought to explain the dynamics of societal transformation and management of
change by undertaking political-economy approach which attempted to seek politics-
administration union and economics-administration confluence. It was asserted that
administrative questions are political questions. The political economy paradigm seeks to relate
administration to political and economic environment. This paradigm which is concerned with
both political and economic dimensions of decision-making and resource allocation deals with
"organisational constitution" and "internal polity".

These new concepts refer to the concepts of power and action. The thrust of the paradigm
consists in examining development administration in the context of power-relationships and in
terms of the real process of conflicts and their resolution. The political-economy paradigm
provides for the analysis of the context of administration.

The Ecological Approach

The ecological approach has been applied to relate Public administration with social, economic
and political-cultural structures of the country. It has been argued that development is a holistic
concept. There is a growing realisation that political development is necessary for national
development and administration. Thus political environment acquires a special significance in
relation to the 'ability of Public Administration to play its role in the national development‟.

The politics-administration dichotomy principle is not a favoured principle now, especially in

practice. It is a known fact that administration plays a decisive role both in policy making and its
implementation. On the other hand political environment provides a conditioning effect on

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administrative environment in so far as effective and efficient administrative performance
requires the support of political executive. Even the question of administrative reforms is a
political question.

Moreover, it is stated that development is dependent on strong political institutions and practices.
If the bureaucracy is more developed than the political leadership and structures, it might lead to
negative impact on development efforts. It may be said that political context provides strategic
opportunities for accomplishment. This political framework must be taken into account while
studying development activities. The cultural context also plays an important role in determining
administrative performance. Both goals and methods shall have to be related to these ecological
factors.

It is equally important to have the economic and sociological understanding of administration in

developing countries. The economic and social dimensions of development administration are a
part of the process of nation-building and socioeconomic progress. The administration creates
conditions for economic development by mobilisation and better utilisation of resources on the
one hand and by determining the extent and context of training to be given for modernising
labour forces on the other. The importance of social development has also been recognised in the
70s. Many organisations have argued for introducing programmes and policies and evolving
relevant strategies to bring about change in the minimum standards of living of the people and to
ensure human dignity. This is the focus, for example, of Declaration on Human Rights,
Declaration on Social Progress and Development and the New International Economic Order.
The emphasis here is on the reduction of poverty, improved delivery of social benefits like
education, health, nutrition, transport etc and removal of socioeconomic disparities in the society.

Basic Needs Approach to Development Administration

By the end of 1960s and early 70s, it was experienced that poverty, hunger, squalor,
unemployment have been on the rising scale despite achievements in the area of economic
growth. The role of human factor in development process began to attract the focus of the
students of development and development administration. How to provide the millions and
millions of poor people with the bare minimum of life became a major concern of the scholars as
well as the policy makers. Meeting the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter, along with

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education and public health became the indicator of development. Thus development acquired a
social and economic meaning during the U.N. Second Development Decade (1971-8 1) instead
of economic growth.

The concern was obvious for qualitative change rather than mere quantitative o ne. It was
realised by the developmentalists of this period that the GNP (Gross National Product) model
has benefited only a small minority of the rich and privileged persons who were already an
entrenched class. The need for new economic framework and accordingly a new approach to
development administration was felt.

The objectives of development were identified as reduction and removal of poverty, inequality,
hunger, squalor, disease, illiteracy, unemployment and malnutrition. Thus the impact of
economic growth occupied central place instead of the increase in the production of goods and
services per se. In other words, the problem of increased production was to be seen along with
the problem of distributive justice. The process of efficient and fair/social choices became a
matter of analysis for the students and practitioners of Public Administration. Anti-poverty
planning and policies aiming at the removal of disparities were treated as key elements of this
new developmental thought. N.Islam and G.M. Henault have presented this shift as follows:

De-bureaucratisation and participatory management were regarded as the appropriate strategy to

implement this shift. The development of regional, local and sectoral structures was focused
upon rather than central organisations. More over rural development became a new management
strategy for development. The implication is the design of a strategy to improve the socio-
economic conditions of the life of the rural poor. The key elements of this approach are:
satisfaction of the basic needs, increase in production in the agricultural sector, development of
labour-,intensive technology for agriculture, providing the services of credit, technological
information, marketing facilities and assistance, seeds and fertilisers to the peasants and small
and marginal farmers. However, the problem is to find an appropriate
organisational/administrative model to achieve these goals. Some scholars have suggested the
following strategy for development:

1) Decentralisation and Devolution: Decentralisation in administrative language means

delegation of authority from the functional department to the regional and local to formulate and

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implement projects, to allocate funds and to raise resources. Decentralisation is also political
when provincial, regional and local governments work under autonomous regions of authority
and functions. Devolution of powers and authority implies creation of autonomous
administrative institutions and agencies at various levels having freedom to plan and implement
development projects and programmes.

2) Strengthening of local self governments and creation of intermediary organisations.

3) Peoples' participation in plan formulation and implementation.

4) Development of communicational co-ordination and integration channels.

5) Removal of negative socio-political conditions e.g. rural, social and class structures-
persistence of dependency-relationship-factional politics.

4 The Trends in the 1980s

The 1980s present a third world view of development administration in which attention has been
given to indigenous concepts, methods and theories of development and administration. Arvind
Singhal mentions two contemporary approaches to development (1) pluralistic, recognising
many pathways to development (2) less western in their cultural assumptions.

These approaches stress on the new socio-economic goals and strategies. The works of Roger,
Korten and Klaus, Bijur, Bryant and White have identified the following as key elements of the
modern approaches to development administration: (1) greater equality in distribution of
development benefits (2) popular participation, knowledge-sharing and empowerment to
facilitate self-development efforts by individuals, groups and communities (3) self-reliance and
independence in development, emphasising the local resources mobilisation and use (4) the
problem of containing the population-increase, and (5) integration of appropriate technology
with big modern technologies in order to facilitate development.

Development administration theory today focuses upon the involvement of non-government,

voluntary and community organisation in the development process and emphasises localised,
decentralised and participative approaches to development administration. The shifts in
development administration theory in the 80s have been very well summarised by Arvind

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Singhal who sees learning Process Approach and People-Centred Approach replacing Blue-Print
Approach and Production-Centred Approach respectively.

Blue-Print Approach to Learning-Process Approach

The conventional development administration theory was concerned with preparing blue-print
for administering a development programme. This approach involves designing a specific plan of
action in advance for implementing a development project. Lately, this .approach was found
inappropriate in so far as it is rigid and closed and, therefore, unable to respond to the needs of a
changing environment.

The Participatory Approach to Development Administration

This approach is also termed as people-centred approach. The approach stresses upon peoples'
empowerment and promotion of psychological strength so as to enable the people relate
themselves with the officials on a partnership basis. It is based on developing community action
through people. The key elements of participatory approach include:

1) Respecting the ideas of employees and the beneficiaries without evaluation or criticism;

2) Raising of certain diagnostic questions of what the administrators are doing;

3) Stimulating ideas from all levels and acceptance of good ideas for implementation; and

4) Attitudinal change by different ways and close observations and discussions among officials
and the people.

The major theme of participatory or people-centred approach is the growth to capacity via
equity. It concentrates on the distribution of development benefits economic as well as social.
Equity became a primary issue in development plans and programmes. The concern for equity
reinforced participation and micro-level concerns. These concerns focused on direct attack on
poverty and rural development.

The set of priorities in the people-centred approach, says Esman, includes:

1) An emphasis on reaching large mass of public often in remote areas;

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2) Developing programmes that are responsive to their very diverse needs, capabilities and
preferences;

3) Organising the public so that they may interact more effectively with the service-providing
agencies of the State;

4) Devolution to constituency organisation and the fostering of local action capabilities;

5) Innovation of appropriate Services and practices in support of basic needs strategies, not the
plantation of established and replicable techniques. However, it may be mentioned here that
some Western administrative methods and practices like record-keeping, monitoring and
reporting methods, public information procedures etc. may provide useful assistance to
programmes oriented to poor masses.

5. The 1990s Until Now

Development administration theory today focus on the involvement of non-government,

voluntary and community organization in the development process and emphasises localized,
decentralized and participative approaches to development administration.

Towards the 90‟s, the very influential new right philosophy sprung up which was neo-liberal
(modern-form of the liberal approach prevailing in the earliest time of society) and public choice
theory emerged that brought new paradigm to the concept of development administration. This
led to the good governance concept.

New Public Management also made a huge impact and suggested that administration should
become more managerial and market based in its approach to survive and be efficient.
Nowadays, the discourse theory of development administration is doing the rounds that assert
that development administration should have two major criteria: Human need based approach
and Sustainable approach.

2.3 Priorities of Development Administration.

 Building an effective civil service

 Improving local governance and service delivery- Government has to respond to the
popular demands for good governance and improved service delivery

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  Making government accountable to the people
 Public expenditure review
 Financial accountability assessment
 Policy priorities for private sector development- build an export-oriented economy
characterized by innovation, investment and competitiveness.

Moreover, the above mentioned areas of development administration used to build effective
state.

Priorities of development administration from global perspectives:

1. Facilitating global collective actions

Globalization is a threat to weak governed states. But it opens the way for effective, disciplined
states to foster development and economic well-being. It sharpens the need for effective
international cooperation in pursuit of global collective actions.

2. Embracing external competition

The state still define the policies and rules for those within its jurisdiction, but global events and
international agreements are increasingly affecting its choices. People are now mobile, more
educated and better informed about condition elsewhere. Involvement in a global economy
tightens constraints on arbitrary state action and brings much closer financial market scrutiny of
monetary and fiscal policies. Globalization is not yet truly global- it has yet to touch a large
chunk of world economy. Joining the global economy, like devolving power from the centre,
carries risks as well as opportunities.

3. Promoting global collective actions

Global integration also gives rise demands for states to cooperate to combat international threats
such as global warming. Economic, cultural and others differences between countries can make
such cooperation difficult. But stronger cooperation is clearly needed for at least four major
concerns:

i).Managing regional crisis- the threat of nuclear war between superpowers has given way to a
mushrooming of smaller conflicts.

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ii). Promoting global economic stability-

iii). Protecting the environment

iv). Fostering basic research and the production of knowledge

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 Chapter Three:

The Goals, Scope, and Significance of Development Administration

3.1. Goals and Objectives of Development Administration

The purpose of development of administration is to remove the administrative lag which

seriously handicaps governments in planning and executing co-ordinated programmes of
economic and social reforms. The predominant concern of development administration is to
design and administer such development programmes which meet the developmental objectives.
It is the administration geared to the task of achieving certain clear-cut and specified objectives
and goals expressed in operational terms.

Development administration concentrates on the needs and desires of the people, it is concerned
with formulation of plans, programmes, policies and projects and their implementation. In other
words, Development administration, therefore is concerned primarily with the tasks and process
of formulating and implementing the four Ps (Plans, Policies, programmes and projects), in
respect to whatever mixture of goals and objectives may be politically determined. It plays a
central role in carrying out planned change i.e. it is concerned with planning, co-ordination,
control, monitoring and evaluation of plans and programmes. It is not only concerned with the
application of policies as determined by the political representatives in existing situation but also
with introducing efforts to modify existing situations so as to serve the cause of the masses.

In brief, Development Administration has following objectives:

Application of innovative strategies for development

Emphasis on development at the grassroots level.
Development has to be a need-oriented and self-reliant process
Stress on social development and human capital as a major resource.
Development has to be viewed not merely as a technological problem but also as an
ideological norm
Profound and rapid change in order to establish a distinct and just social order.
Recognising and highlighting the unity, rather than dichotomy between politics and
administration

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 Effective and efficient use of scarce resources
Creation of a politics-administrative environment which is oriented towards securing
basic needs of the population

3.2. Scope of Development Administration.

The function or activities of development administration become expanding day by day. As

mentioned earlier, development administration aims at bringing about political, social, economic
and cultural changes through proper planning and programming, development programs and
people‟s participation. To achieve development goals, the administration constantly interacts
with the environment. It shapes the environment and is shaped by it.

i) Development is culture-bound

The commitment of administration to the ideology of development and change can definitely
usher in cultural change. For that purpose, it should also be able to prepare suitable plans,
programs and projects keeping in view their feasibility, operationability and desirability.

ii) Wide spectrum of development programs

Development administration covers a whole gamut of the multi-faceted tasks of administration

and management of development programs. The spectrum of development programs, the central
theme of development administration is very wide ranging from the provision of industrial and
infrastructural development programs to programs relating to development of agriculture, health,
education, communication, social services and social reconstruction (i.e. community
development, family planning, etc).

iii) Nation-building and Social-welding

Development administration further involves the tasks of nation-building and social-welding. It

is concerned, not merely with the function of creation or expansion overgrowth structures, but
also to mould (shape) social behaviour or reconstruct social structures. Many countries of 3rd
world tend to get affected by traditional and parochial set of social relationships based on
kinship, caste, religion and region. Hence, the focus of development administration is on
expediting (pace up) the process of industrialization, urbanization, education and democracy.

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iv) Planning and programming

Many countries of the world have opted for development planning. This types of planning lays
emphasis on the proper assessment of resources, determination of plan priorities, formulation,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of plan with an aim to achieve maximum results with
minimum time and cost. Thus, development administration comprises a wide number of
activities. These are all-round efforts to realize development goals, provision of basic necessities,
introduction of social change, re-organization of social structures and functions, etc.

3.3. Significance of Development Administration

Administrative reform is an essential ingredient of development in any country, irrespective of

the speed and direction of change. Administrative capacity becomes increasingly important in
the implementation of new policies, plans and ideas. The improvements in administrative
capacity may involve the removal of environmental obstacles, structural alternatives in
traditional and innovatory institutions bureaucratically organised or otherwise. This would also
necessitate changing individual and group attitudes and performance.

To achieve development goals it is essential that there is proper assessment of resources, proper
plan formulation, evaluation and implementation, adequate involvement of people, emphasis on
technological change and self-reliance. At the same time we also need developed bureaucracy,
integrity in administration, initiative, innovativeness, delegation of powers and decentralised
decision-making. Hence, any developmental goals cannot be achieved without administrative
change and reform.

Look at the following specific significances of development administration:

Developing indigenous administrative means, procedures, methods and techniques to

meet multi-faceted challenges thrown by the pressing demands from the new
environment up on the state.
It promotes democratic spirit in administration and includes people‟s participation in
the management of developmental affairs and processes of social change as a
technique.

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 It calls for higher standards of group performance, inter-group collaborations and
participative management.
Higher degree of achievement-motivation and a continuing innovation of organization
to meet environmental change and internal needs.
It is important to fill the gap between developmental needs administrative responses

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 Chapter Four:

The Elements of Development Management

4.1 Change oriented and Goal oriented Administration

Change-Orientation

Development Administration is change-oriented administration. Change involves the movement

„of a system or a structure from one point to another. The reverse of 'change' could be status-quo
or inertia. Thus, a development administrative system would be dynamic and not 'static'. There is
an in-built philosophy of Development Administration 'that values change. This change is a
strategy for increasing the coping ability of an Administrative system in relation to its external
environment as well as a mechanism to activate its internal structures.

Goal Orientation

As we have pointed out above, Development Administration, as defined by Weidner, is a 'goal-

oriented' administration. One might ask a simple question: Is an administrative system not
necessarily goal-oriented? Do we not define administration as a collective human activity that
is designed to achieve certain specific goals?

Yes, it is true that all administrative systems as such are goal-oriented. Yet what distinguishes
the general public Administration from Development administration is the dominant focus on
goal-achievement in a more systematic manner. In other word, Development Administration is
that aspect of Public Administration which is dominantly goal-oriented. All these goals, as
Weidner points out are progressive in nature; Thus Development Administration is concerned
with the achievement of progressive political, economic, social and cultural goals.

4.2 Planned and Coordinated effort.

Development administration in operational terms refers to organized efforts to carry out

development programmes and projects in the direction of statebuilding and socio-economic
progress. Planning and coordination have become important in organizing efforts. In developing
countries, where human and material resources are scarce, governments are required to adopt and
adapt development planning techniques as an invaluable aid in promoting social and economic

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development. The identification of major functions to be carried out and their alignment are
basic ingredients to development administration. A development administrative system decides
on appropriate methods of coordination and control for different functions at different levels.

4.3 Managerial Capacities and Progressivism

Management Capacities

Development administration involves creating and enhancing management capacities as a means

for achieving development goals. The effect of decolonization on the social structures of several
of developing countries was the ascendance of a political and bureaucratic elite which had not
been oriented to respond to popular pressures. Luke says that as a result colonial regimes have
been built on doubtful foundations of legitimacy.

It should look obvious from the foregoing comments that the inherited system of administration
needed a change so that it could respond to the combined challenges of economic and social
change and state-building.

Indeed, the focus of development administration is on improving the skills and knowledge of
development-oriented administrators so that they are able to respond to the growing needs of the
people. A unique and specific function of development administrators is macro-management.
Therefore, they need adequate development and training in it.

Progressivism

The element of 'progressiveness' of goals is an accepted feature of Development Administration.

What is progressive for one society may not be so for another society. Nevertheless, there
appears to be a broad consensus on the nature of progressiveness of these goals in most of the
countries, particularly those which are 'developing' societies. In political systems, progressivism
would imply greater participation of the people in governmental affairs. In a democratic system,
participation could imply strengthening of the pressure groups, political parties, free voting in
elections and greater respect for public opinion in governmental affairs. On the other hand in a
totalitarian country, participation would be more of a symbolic character. But in both types of
systems, increasing participation would involve greater share of the common man in the
formulation and implementation of government policies, plans, programmes and projects. It is a

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very difficult goal to attain, particularly by an administrative system. Nevertheless, it is expected
of development administrative systems that create and promote such conditions that will
facilitate greater participation of the people in the process of development.

In the economic sphere, a progressive approach would involve faster pace of economic
development and more equitable distribution of income and wealth. It would involve an
approach of economic justice where opportunities to develop economically are distributed to all
sections of society.

In the socio-cultural sphere, a progressive approach would involve universalisation of promotion

of health facilities for all sections of society, social justice based on equity, secularism and
adequate opportunities to all social groups to promote their respective cultural distinctiveness.
Development Administration, thus, is, an administration designed to achieve progressive
political, economic and socio-cultural goals.

4.4 Participation, Responsiveness and Accountability

Participation

We have discussed earlier that progressive political goals in a society will involve participation
of the people I governmental affairs. The notion of participation gains added importance in the
actual functioning of a development administrative system.

Development administration involves the participation of the people or the beneficiaries in the
formulation and implementation of development programmes.

In identifying goals, prescribing objectives formulating plans, designing action strategies,

implementing Projects and evaluating performance, the role of the beneficiaries is of utmost
importance, that is why the block level and district planning are gaining increasing importance in
development Administration in India. Not only participation helps in making policies and plans
more realistic and down-to-earth, it also mobilizes people's cooperation and support in
implementing development programmes with minimum cost in terms of manpower, time and
money. Participation of the people in development programmes depends on three factors. These
are:

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i) Ability to participate which in turn depends on their level of formal and informal education;

ii) Willingness to participate which in turn depends on the socio-psychological framework of

society, groups and individuals, and

iii) Opportunity provided to the people by the governmental organizations to participate.

Their absence may cause low participation. Participation has an important concomitant in
decentralization. A development administrative system effectively utilizes the strategies of
delegation and consultation and thus makes the administration "gross-root" oriented. People's
willing cooperation is sought and mobilized by the governmental authorities and this cooperation
and collaboration + becomes a potent instrument for making the process of Development
Administration successful.

Responsiveness and Accountability

In the traditional administrative system, administrators tend to be routine-minded, stagnant, and

generally lacking in the enthusiasm and ability for innovation. Development administration
requires an administrator who is dynamic, innovative, and development-conscious enough to
perform his role in the administration for development. This is indeed a most decisive area in
development administration.

Development administration is required to be responsive and accountable. A top-down/bottom-

up flow of communications and initiative is recognized as the main element in accountable
administrative capacity. The tendency for policy-making to be highly centralized in
administrative structures is further recognized as a major constraint on attempts to nurture
responsive and accountable administrative capacity.

Centralized administrative structures of the new states have their origins in the legacy of colonial
administration. Innovation, creativity adaptability and flexibility are crucial in the planning and
administration of development activities. It is widely recognized that these requirements can be
facilitated by a development-oriented administration. A development administrative system
requires highly motivated personnel at all levels. Such personnel should be committed to the
development goals and should have a high degree of enthusiasm to accomplish them. They need

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to possess and demonstrate their willingness, dedication and even perseverance to achieve the
progressive goals of development.

4.5 Creative, Innovativeness and Coping Abilities

Creativity and Innovativeness

The term 'creativity' is often understood as the ability and power to develop new ideas. On the
other hand, 'innovation' generally means application of these ideas. It means a new way of doing
things. After goals are agreed upon and priorities determined, major innovation is needed if
development is sought. Thus an important task of government is to promote and carry out
innovation. Development administration as an instrumentality of government lays stress upon the
adoption of new structures, procedures, policies, plans and programmes which would help
achieve the developmental objectives with the greatest possible facilitation.

Development administration is not dogmatic and traditional in its approach to problem solving.
Instead, it stresses upon identification and adoption of new structures, method. Procedures,
policies, plans, programmes and projects which would help to achieve the developmental
objectives with the greatest possible facilitation. Experimentation and adaptation are the
hallmarks of development administration.

Likewise, use of computers, district planning, national education policy etc. is other instances of
an on-going creative approach to the development process. This creativity is not confined to the
organizational level only. At the group and the individual levels as well, creativity in
administration is feasible and its overall contribution to effectiveness of goal-oriented change can
be‟ immense. A development administrative system has the responsibility to create an
organizational environment which would be congenial to creativity and innovations

Coping Ability

A development administrative system is an "open" system. It receives inputs regularly from the
environment and attempts to respond through its outputs, viz., decisions and actions. NO doubt
there is a continuing interaction between a system and its environment and this reciprocity of
relationship is an important trait of Development Administration. Every development
administrative system functions in an environment which has its set of sub- structures. For

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instance, there are the political, economic, social and cultural (including technological
environments in which the development administration to function. Obviously, the influences of
these environments affect the nature of functioning and effectiveness of Development
administration. The political environment places demands for a change and provides direction of
movement, the economic environment the agenda of action of the administrative system and puts
constraints of resources on it and the socio-cultural system creates the milieu in which the
development administrative system has to operate.

It does not imply that Development Administration is only a dependent variable and lacks its
own mechanism to influence the environment. Essentially, the process of Development
administration is interactional and therefore it would be a mistake on the part of theorists to
present it only as a uni-directional process. One thing is clear in this context: Development
Administration has to respond to the demands and challenges arising from its environment.
Sometimes these challenges are moderate and modest and thus do not strain the development
administrative system. However, on occasion, the challenges are serious and test the coping
ability of the administrative system.

A development administrative system, therefore, continuously tries to enhance its coping

capacity. This is done through a process of greater sensitivity and responsiveness to the
environment and the capacity to strengthen its administrative structures, behaviour and
processes. Generally, it should be adequate to mention that Development Administration is goal-
oriented, change-oriented, progressive, planned, innovative, flexible, motivational, client-
oriented, and participative, it is a highly integrated administrative system with substantial coping
ability.

4.6 People centered and Client oriented Administration.

People centered Administration

Development administration is essentially a people-centered administration. It aims at serving

the people. Development programmes and projects which are drawn up by the planners and
administrators aim at benefiting the people. The organization of delivery systems for the
administration of programmes and projects of basic needs for the 'poorest of the people' is a
crucial test facing post-colonial administrative systems. The need for a flexible and action-

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oriented approach to the administration of community development is widely recognized. The
field of development administration is expected to put in place the requisite capacity to mediate
and respond to substantive demands from the people. It has to respond to the demands and
challenges arising from its environment.

Client orientation

A development administrative system is a client-oriented or a beneficiary-oriented

administration. It aims at providing maximum benefits of its services and products to every
people for whom the organization is designed. In other words, Development Administration is
“people-centred" administration which accords primacy to the needs of its .beneficiaries and tries
to tune its programmes, policies and actions to these needs. Here it may be appropriate to refer to
a very important aspect of motivation that is pre eminent in any service-oriented or beneficiary-
oriented administration. It is called "extension" motivation, which means motivation to "help"
people. Western motivation theorists such as Maslow, Herzberg and McClelland have not
highlight& this particular type of motivation, but Indian social psychologists have been
successful in identifying and highlighting this notable phenomenon.

The assumption of extension motivation is that there is a desire in every man to be of use to
others. There are varying intensities of extension motivation among people, depending on their
socialization and orientations. It can be suggested without much risk of contradiction that in a
beneficiary-oriented administration, existence of functionaries with a high degree of extension
motivation will be a great asset in moving that organization towards its goal of responsiveness.
No doubt, a development administrative organization is a "responsive" organization. It is
responsive to the needs, wishes and aspirations of .the people that it purports to serve.
Responsiveness is a trait that would do well to any administrative system, but for a development
administrative organization, it is a fundamental „prerequisite to its successful existence.

4.6.1 Keeping in touch with social realities

In contrast to the traditional administration, development administration is required to keep in

touch with realities, including grassroots situations, local problems, etc. In developing countries
which are very heterogeneous, with large differences between cities and rural areas, between

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different ethnic and socio-economic groups, etc., development administrators are expected to be
in constant touch with the rapidly shifting social realities.

Weber believed that human society had progressed from a traditional, paternalistic
administration to a formal rational bureaucratic system. The paternalistic administration did not
differentiate between political and non-political roles. On the other hand administration is highly
specialized in its structure as well as its role differentiation.

4.6.2 Effective integrated Administration

Bringing together a host of groups and authorities for the achievement of common
developmental goals would require a high degree of integrative capacity in an administrative
organization.

Highly, Development Administration is characterized by a high degree of coordination or

integration. And in case the level of integration is low, the developmental results are likely to be
adversely affected. In a development administrative situation, coordination is required to be
affected at various levels, among different organizations and units, among various positions and
functionaries and among the resources available for the achievements of goals. Lack of
coordination is' bound to result into wastage of resources and mitigation of effectiveness.

As is well known, any developing society experiences a proliferation of structures to equip itself
to undertake specialized bks. But what generally happens is that the level of specialization of
functions and structures increases.

But this is not accompanied by a required level of coordination. This gap between specialization
and coordination is termed as "integration lag". Fred Riggs calls that society "Prismatic" where
the level of I integration (coordination) is less than that of differentiation (specialization). In a
Prismatic Society, I < D (I stands for integrating ", D stands for Development).

4.6.3 High degree of motivation

Motivated personnel are the backbone of any organization designed to achieve certain
progressive goals. A development administrative system needs a set of highly motivated
personnel at top, middle and lower levels. Such personnel should be committed to the

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progressive goals designed to be the achieved and should have a high degree of enthusiasm to
accomplish those goals. Their narrow vested interests or comforts should not deter them from
acting in the highest interest of the organization and the society. What factors can motivate the
personnel functioning in development administrative organization? Essentially, the maxim of
need-fulfilment will apply to any group of individuals entrusted with the responsibilities of
achieving certain goals. For the developmental administrative personnel too, the bases of
motivation will remain the same.

Notwithstanding this commonality, it may be stressed that in a development administrative

system, the personnel need to possess and demonstrate extra zeal, extra dedication, and even
perseverance to achieve lofty progressive goals of change. In case it is not possible to create such
a cadre of motivated people, there is a likelihood of reutilization of administration resulting in
only modest performance. How to get a group of highly motivated people to guide and man
development administrative organizations are a difficult question.

Yet, a rigorous exercise in building individuals and groups in a planned manner through proper
training can be attempted. Behavioural training for attitudinal change can be effectively
employed for creating a new class of motivated individuals.

4.7 Flexibility in organizational procedures.

Generally, a bureaucratic administration is considered as a synonym of rule-oriented

administration. While it is true that no bureaucracy or administration can function without an
adequate set of rules, it is also true that a totally rule oriented" administration can fall in the trap
of treating rules as ends rather than as means. Such a dogmatic approach can make an
administrative system straight-jacketed and inflexible and thus make it unfit for promoting
development as a faster pace. Development oriented administration requires an optimum
flexibility of operations which would allow an administrator the required autonomy to apply
rules with discretion to certain unique and significantly distinctive administrative situations.
Though accountability for any decision made shall remain with the administrator, yet hi will be
granted adequate leeway in using the set of rules to the advantage of the organization and to the
best of his ability and judgment. Yes, the risk is likely to remain of misuse of any discretionary
powers, yet this little inevitable risk should not become an obstruction in the process of making a

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Development Administration optimally flexible in its functioning. Otherwise, the ideal notions of
creativity and innovation will remain only myths.

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 Chapter Five:

Growth and Successive Approaches to Development Management

5.1 The Ideals of Development administration.

A) Institution- building

The tasks of development administration are not confined only to the formulation of plans,
policies, programmes and projects, but it also includes creation of suitable institutions to
accomplish the objectives of development. The term institution means planning, organising,
implementing and evaluating, through well designed structures. In the words of Donald C. Stone,
"we use this term to identify the process involved in moving from an objective to be
accomplished to the actual creation of the organisation, service system, new practices or
relationships which evidence that change has actually taken place. This may be a school, water
distribution sector, or any kind of organised efforts that requires acceptance and response." A
different set of organisational values and constructs are therefore necessary to tackle the tasks of
development administration.

B) Administrative Development

The administrative aspect of planning and development in terms of building up adequate

administrative capacity and capability is another integral part of development administration. In
order to make administration a 'perfect instrument' of development, the changes in structures,
attitudes, skills and behaviour of administrative organisations are taken as essentials. For these
purposes, a proper arrangement for training of administrators engaged in the task of socio-
economic and cultural transformation of the society is called for. In sum, it is concerned with
creating in administration a sense of dynamism, flexibility, democracy, responsiveness,
imagination and innovativeness. It aims at creating a people-centred administration replacing the
colonial attitudes of authoritarianism and rigidity. The idea is to bring the administration closer
to the people, to make the administration responsive to the people and to make the people an
integral part of administration. As you have read in the previous unit development of
administrative capacity and capability to carry out administrative programmes is a necessity for
development of administration. Another aspect of administrative development is related to

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simplification of procedures and techniques of work so as to make them comprehensible and
accessible to the people who are mainly ignorant and illiterate. Administrative development aims
at building a new generation of men and women trained and motivated to operate a modem
society.

C. Communication

Communication has become a watch word for development. It assumed more importance
because new ideas are introduced into a social system committed to bring about social change. In
order to produce higher per capita income and levels of living through more modern production
methods and improved social organisations, the patterns of communication acquire added
significance. It would be difficult to achieve developmental goals without an effective
communication network: It is through the process of communication that transmission of
information, decisions and directives among factors takes place and knowledge, opinions and
attitudes are formed or modified.

Communication, for the purposes of development administration, may mean mainly development
communication i.e. communication of messages related to all aspects of development
programmes. Moreover, communication is integral component of development administration, is
both vertical and horizontal in addition to being formal and informal or written and oral one. The
process of communication promotes the elements of personalised relationship which is an
important plank of development administration.

D. Participatory Development

The concept of development administration is based on the premise that people have an immense
(huge) capacity to contribute to development. That is why a renewed stress is laid on the need to
involve people more actively in all stages of development planning, implementation, controlling
and evaluation. Participatory development implies development of the people by the people.
The success of policies, programmes and projects depends to a larger degree on the success in
obtaining more and more participation of the beneficiaries in development process.

In other words, the focus of development administration is' on seeking people's involvement at
all the stages of development. The voluntary associations, interest groups, pressure groups

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and beneficiary organisations are encouraged to participate in both plan formulation and
execution. This is so because the governmental agencies involved in the task of progressive
mobilisation of the society alone may not prove to be suitable instruments for the job. Though,
the concept of popular participation in development emerged in more developed countries, the
societies of the third world have also perceived its relevance for achieving fast rate of
development. The implication of all this reference is that participatory development process is
the key factor in development administration because it is the only way qualitative
development can take place.

Most countries‟ centrally sponsored schemes for rural development and poverty eradication have
not been much of a success. The lack of success is not due to faulty premises underlying the
schemes but the fact that they have not been able to involve people in the formulation,
implementation and evaluation of these schemes to a needed extent. These programmes have
been in a way imposed on rural people without taking into due consideration their requirements
and needs. The suitability of a scheme in a particular area has also been overlooked
(ignored/disregarded). The emphasis has been on completing targets rather than actually helping
people.

E. DA as a process

Development administration is also a process which involves, as mentioned by J. Khosla, four

crucial elements: (1) Development goals and their feasibility (2) Development policies and
programmes (3) Organisational logistics and personnel to implement these programmes, and (4)
end results. This dimension of development administration further stresses on (a) 'treating
administration as one of the resources in the planning process; (b) working out in operational
terms of the administrative requirements of each developmental programme ,or activity; (c)
formulating a clear cut scheme of priorities as between the different developmental goals and
objectives; and (d) designing an effective strategy of implementation. Thus, development
follows a proper plan procedure.

F. Coordination

As we read in the previous unit also, co-ordination is a basic component of development

administration. It is taken as a means for planned change. Development administration has to

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establish co-operation and co-ordination at various levels of governmental organisations and
functioning. According to V.A. PaiPanandikar, "the key formula of development administration
could be expressed in the initial letters of co-ordination of resources through organisation of
personnel and procedures i.e. CROPP (Co-ordination, Resources, Organisation, Personnel and
Procedures). In development administration it is the key factor because scarce resources seldom
permit overlapping or wastages without serious damages to developmental pace and process".
Alternatively, development administration focuses on 'management of scarcities' or 'optimising
opportunities', through better coordination and utilisation of resource inputs. There is no area of
development where co-ordination i.e. structured formal co-operation and cultivated informal co-
operation does not permit and determine the tone and tempo of development. Indeed, success in
development administration could be measured by the degree of-coherence and coordination
achieved in administration.

5.2. Approaches to development administration.

A) Regional approach

The first approach to development, especially rural development, was regional with emphasis on
economic activities to be established in different sub-regions of the district. This approach is
popularly known as Growth Centre Approach. The philosophy behind this approach is that the
process of development in rural areas can be fostered by developing natural resources, build up
infrastructural facilities and social services, and foster the growth of towns and cities in a manner
that would help the district to develop in a directed way. The assumption is that each village
could not be provided with those facilities simultaneously because of financial limitations and
for reasons of economic efficiency.

B) Area development approach

The area development approach focuses on two points:

i) Development of optimum infrastructural facilities; and

ii) Spatial and functional integration for the development of an area.

The purpose of these approaches is alleviation of rural poverty. For instance, many area-based
developments programmes-Intensive Agricultural District Programme, Drought Prone Area

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Programme, Command Area Development Programme (to increase productivity from dry land &
arid/infertile areas), and Desert Development Programme can be prepared and implemented in a
particular country. Since agriculture plays a very important role in the economy and in social life
of the people, the area development strategy was considered essential.

The characteristic of such an area is maximum concentration of the poor and the unemployed.
Hence, their development called for the use of appropriate technology of development.

The Drought Prone Area Development-Programme included six major sectoral areas including
fisheries, irrigation, forestry, horticulture. Similarly, Desert Development Programme was
another area based programme aiming at:

i) Afforestation;

ii) Maximum exploitation and conservation of water resources;

iii) Creation of water harvesting structures;

iv) Rural electrification; and

v) Development of agriculture, horticulture and animal hu

C).Target-group approach

The third approach to development is Target-Group Approach or Beneficiary Oriented

Approach. This may also be termed as people-centred approach. It was realised that economic
growth model of development which laid emphasis on trickledown theory (which believed that
fruits of development will automatically reach to the people in rural areas. Hence, it was
considered necessary to undertake such programmes and projects which deliberately and in a
determined manner aimed at reduction in poverty and lead to distributive justice. The main
principle came to be economic growth with social justice. With this objective in view a number
of target-group oriented programmes were implemented. Some of them have been:

- Rural manpower programme (to provide employment opportunity)

- Intensive rural employment programme (creating additional employment for unskilled
labor, creation of assets, creation of new skill, etc)

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 - food for work programme (improving the nutritional level & strengthening of rural
infrastructures)

NB: - Creation of productive and durable assets for direct continuing benefits to the poorer
groups and strengthening rural economic and social infrastructure which would lead to rapid
growth of rural economy.

D). Minimum needs programme approach

The earlier approaches ignored the social aspect of development. The main thrust of those
approaches was on economic development or income and assets generation for the specific areas
or target-groups. However, it was realised lately that social development was equally important.
The provision of social services and basic necessities to improve quality of life occupied
increasing attention of the planners and developers. This approach emphasises 'investment in
human beings'. The objectives of this approach are:

i) Establishment of a network of basic services and facilities of social consumption in all the
areas up to nationally accepted norms, within a specified time-frame.

ii) Raising of the standards of living and reduction of the regional disparities in development.

The Minimum Needs Approach concentrates on basic needs of food, shelter, sanitation, health,
education, drinking water and roads. The programme has fixed following priority areas.
Elementary and adult education, health, rural water supply, rural road:, rural electrification,
housing, environmental improvement of urban slums and nutrition. Primary Health Care
Approach based on equity, access and social justice is very vital philosophy of social
development.

NB: Accelerated rural water supply programme- It aimed, among other things, at providing
adequate and safe drinking water to the rural population, prevention of water pollution, educating
the public in conservation of quantity and quality of water etc.

E). People-centred approach

The main thrust of this approach is to treat the individual as an active participant in the
development process, rather than viewing him merely as subject of development. The people-

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centred approach comprises human growth and well-being, equality, self-reliance and peoples'
participation as its key elements. Similarly, the involvement of voluntary/ non-government
organisations is also becoming an important part of development administration in most of
developing countries especially in India.

5.5. New Public Administration Vs. New Public Management

PADM theories and practices have been substantially changing over the past few decades, and
different concepts and approaches came to be apparently seen and widely adopted. In the
contemporary world, public administration and development management are considered as the
two sides of a coin, and are highly interrelated. Even one can say that development
administration is the result of the changing orientation, concern, and function of public
administration in pursuit of responding to citizen‟s problems and achieving desired results in
every dimension of life. In today‟s modern time, public administration is becoming or forced to
be more and more public oriented than assuming itself as responsible only to serve as a guardian
of a government.

Public administration started to show dramatic changes mainly since the end of the Second
World War in terms of its orientation and function. Such substantive transformation envisaged in
public administration has been the outcome of many influences. Among the influences (factors)
that urged public administration to change its traditional function, citizens‟ enlightenment to
demand the government work for them, global political trends toward democratization, poverty
alleviation and development are the major ones.

Governments of developing countries have been sandwiched by many problems. Such complex
problems and the need to resolve them necessitated public administration to assume a new role.
Toward this end, different approaches such as “development administration” and “new public
administration” or “new public management” came into use since the 1950s and late 1960s
respectively to represent those aspects of public administration and those changes in public
administration, which are needed to carry out policies, projects, and programs to improve social
and economic conditions.

Development Administration and New Public Administration (NPA) and/or New Public
Management (NPM) are used to mark the emergence of new thinking in public administration.

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The emergences of these concepts, theories and practices, which were result-based and
development-oriented in approach.

The NPA movement has been essentially an attempt to unify politics and public administration.
Further, government reforms forced many scholars in the 1960s to rethink about their initial
premises, which assumed automatic development and improvement in the lives of the poor.

The rivalry between capitalist and communist categories made confused governments of the
newly independent countries and caused them to fail from satisfying the interests of their
citizens. That in turn brought about conflicts between governments and citizens, continuous riots
and social unrest, etc in those countries, which alarmed public administration that the worsening
trend had to be changed.

The crisis-driven period of the sixties was, therefore, the first incident for the evolving discipline
of public administration to be enriched by the emergence of what has come to be known as the
"New Public Administration-NPA" movement. Rumki Basu (1994) says that the failure of
development administration has led to the term “new public administration” (and its current
version, the new public management) in the 1970s, which came to be associated with the
advocates of “public choice economists” and the move to privatize various parts of the
government. Nevertheless, it would be important to note that NPA is not a complete
replacement of development administration rather they coexist concurrently. The New Public
Administration (NPA) movement called on the profession to shift from its historic emphasis on
programmatic efficiency toward advocacy for the poor, for the minorities, and for disadvantaged
social groups as well as toward the reform of governmental structure that perpetuated their
disadvantages.

New public management (NPM) propagates change to realize the common good of nations.
NPM is a managerial revolution, pursuing change and reform to take place in the public sector
that has affected a number of countries around the world. The theoretical perspectives of NPM
suggest that the goal of reforming public sector institutions and processes is to maximize public
choice opportunities and minimize agency costs.

For this reason, we find "New Public Administration" and "New Public Management" being
used interchangeably. However, the interchangeability of NPA and NPM may not be

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comfortably accepted by those people who argue management is different from administration in
that administration means following instructions and management means the achievement
efficiency.

Despite such critiques and disparities, NPA has brought about a radical transformation in the
history of the discipline in terms of identifying problems and proposing actions towards
providing solutions, clarifying confusions and establishing understanding of the concept,
determining the scope and method of applications etc.

3.5.1 Guidelines of NPA/NPM

(a) Public administration practices need to be aligned to increasing orientation towards

changing realities

(b) Public administration should strive to influence policies, which can improve the
quality of working life, as well as to have competence to implement such policies

(c) Public administration should be more oriented towards measuring the impact of laws
on citizens rather than being satisfied by their mechanical applications

(d) Public administration should be more normative and less neutral

(e) Public management should shift its emphasis on procedure and input control to results
or output control

(f) Competition is desirable between service providers through market mechanisms

(g) Citizens should be redefined as customers to whom the public sector should be
responsive

(h) Government aught to ensure that public goods and services are provided rather than
produce those goods or provide services by itself

(i) Centralized hierarchical, bureaucratic control and monitoring of government operations

is not consistent with result-oriented public administration, and is to be replaced by
competition, customer services incentives, and accountability to customers

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 (j) Front-line operations should be delegated and empowered decision-making authorities
to exercises creativity and innovation in the pursuit of more effective services to
customers

(k) Public organizations should be as entrepreneurial, innovative and flexible as the private
sector.

3.5.2 Features of NPA/NPM

New Public Administration is a quest for reform in the structure and role of government; it is
about issues related to ensuring legitimacy (law and order) and achieving economy and
efficiency; about citizens‟ empowerment and participation; about accountability, transparency
and responsiveness; generally about achievement of the good life.

NPA has a number of interrelated features from which the major ones will be discussed as
follows.

A) Good Governance

In discussing this topic, we may need to capture common understanding on three derivative and
interrelated terminologies; i.e. Government, Governance, and Good Governance. Government
refers to a legal organization that maintains order in society and provides the goods and services
that its citizens require. Governance implies a process by which order is maintained and goods
and services are supplied.

Governance is generally defined as "the exercise of political, economical and administrative

autonomy to mange a nation's affairs and public resources and an attempt to resolve conflicts at
all levels.

The concept of "good governance" has since 1989 become a popular political cliché (formula).
The concept of "democracy" is therefore strictly related with that of "good governance". Good
governance has many attributes. It is participatory, transparent, accountable, effective and
equitable. It is effective in making the best use of resources, it is equitable, and it promotes the
rule of law.

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Good governance aims to achieve much more than mere efficient management of economic and
financial resources or particular public services; it is also a broad reform strategy to strengthen
the institutions of civil society, and make government more open, responsive, accountable and
democratic. Good governance is the quality of governance as determined by the impact of the
exercise of power on the quality of life enjoyed by its citizens.

Components of Good governance:

 Legitimacy- system of government must operate with the consent of those governed

 Accountability- existence of mechanism which ensure public officials & leaders

answerable for their actions & use of public resources

 Competence- making &executing appropriate public policy & deliver efficient public
service

 Respect for law & protection of human right

Measures of the quality of Good governance:

 ensuring political transparency & voice for all citizens (political freedom & stability)

 provide effective public service efficiently

 promote health and well-being of citizens (human dev‟t & equitable distribution of
income)

 create favourable climate stable economic growth

B) Accountability and transparency

Accountability can be defined as “the process by which public officials answer to citizens
directly or indirectly for the use of their powers”. To ensure that officials do not exercise their
powers arbitrarily or for private gain, they must be answerable for the outcomes of their actions,
both negative and positive, to the citizens or its elected representatives that they are supposed to
serve. Accountable governance suggests the answerability of a state system at all levels,
(including the government and other institutions of the state), to its constituency (to the people).

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Accountability requires clarity about whom and on whose behalf an institution or organization is
making and implementing decisions.

In other words, accountable governance implies a process of incorporating those for whom
decisions are made. It is the process of social empowerment for the people. Accountability is a
prerequisite at all levels of governance. To be accountable means to be obliged to render full and
truthful reports to a superior level of authority concerning one's activities and actions. For
accountability to be effective there must be an enforcing mechanism, it needs to have a watchdog
organization responsible for carrying out conformance and performance auditing.

C) Efficiency and effectiveness

The terms efficiency and effectiveness are more of practical measures of performance or
productivity than abstract theoretical concepts. Since NPA suggests the application of
achievement criteria to evaluate the performance of the bureaucracy or public institutions,
efficiency and effectiveness measures are highly commendable.

Efficiency simply means the quality of doing something well with no waste of time, money, and
energy. It refers to the best use of inputs. In terms of economic activity, it is extremely an
important indicator characterizing the relation between the economic results obtained and the
cost or input applied. As a tool of measuring performance or productivity, it can be explained as
the ratio between outputs of activity and the inputs or resources.

The term effectiveness is an administrative concern that generally refers to the degree to which a
program fulfils the goals defined by the policymakers, or extent to which the policies are
achieved the intended benefits. Effectiveness is a method for examining how well a government
or any public service agency is meeting the public purpose it is intended to fulfil. Effectiveness
refers to the degree to which services are responsive to the needs and desires of the community
or the public. Effectiveness encompasses both the quantity and quality aspects of a service or a
product, but the major concern is on the impact or consequence of the output.

Generally, efficiency and effectiveness measures are not mutually exclusive, rather are
complementary measures.

D) Citizen Participation

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  Participation has become an essential ingredient and a prerequisite of good governance.
Participation is an important element in development strategies of countries in Sub-
Saharan Africa. Feminism concerned much about inclusion of women. Community
participation refers to an active process by which beneficiary or client groups influence
the direction and execution of development projects, rather than merely receiving a share
of project benefits. Participation is also broadly defined as a “collective sustained activity
for the purpose of achieving common objectives. Participation regarded as process of
consciousness raising, capacity building, bridging social inequalities, and promoting
gender balance as well as racial and ethnic harmony. Individual participation rises up to
popular participation where a large proportion of people are invited and expected to
express their wishes on issues of governance. Participation increases efficiency,
encourages people to make good use of resources, and raises their motivation, enthusiasm;
they feel that they are recognized as important. Participation makes resource mobilization
much easier and the commitment of the people more tangible.

E).Empowerment

Participation and empowerment are very much-interrelated concepts, which sometimes are
understood as synonymous and used interchangeably. However, for people to take charge of
their own destiny, something more than participation is required. It is concerned with changing
the pattern of controlling resources and political power, as well as the attainment of self-reliant
development and determination of own destinies by disadvantaged groups.

Empowerment is a desired process by which the poor are to take direct control over the
circumstances of their own lives, so that they are in a position to become their own development
agents in the future. Within the development discourse, the concept of empowerment evolved
concurrently with the "bottom- up" approach to development. This entails that the central
purpose of empowerment strategy is building power at the grassroots.

F) Privatization

Privatization can be defined as the sale of government owned corporations to private investors
and the contracting out of formerly governmental functions to private agents. It is the transfer of
assets and service functions from the public to the private hands. The transfer of public

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ownership to private ownership takes direct and indirect forms; i.e. direct transfer refers to a
complete transfer of public ownership (both assets and the management) to the private sector,
while the indirect one is privatization of the management aspect, most appropriately known as
"management contracting", the assets remaining under the ownership of the public.
Management contracting is often made mainly with two objectives: to relieve administrative
burdens of the government, and to ensure administrative efficiency. The point is that "is
privatization the 'necessary condition' or 'sufficient condition' to break or eliminate
bureaucratic controls?" The answer is certainly that privatization is not a sufficient condition to
overwhelm (overcome) the archaic bureaucracy, rather is a necessary condition. It is a means to
an end, not an end by itself.

G) Decentralization

Decentralization has been considered as a source of democracy, public participation, equity and
development in general. The common connotation or implication of the word is the transfer of
decision-making power to the local government units.

It is the transfer of planning, decision-making, or administrative authority from the central

government to its field organizations, local administrative units, semi-autonomous local
governmental or non-governmental organizations.

Forms of decentralization:

 De-concentration- the central government shifts the workload to staff or offices outside
the national capital

 Delegation- some authorities and decision-making power is passed down to entities of the
lower administrative organs

 Devolution- local governments are given legally recognized boundaries in which they
enforce an independent authority to plan and implement programs.

Generally, it is argued that decentralization that goes down to the grassroots is more effective in
participation and local development. Decentralization increases popular participation, and helps
to formulate realistic and locally relevant plans, which will result in efficient implementation.

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Decentralization increases flexibility and responsiveness in the management of development
projects, because decisions to correct mistakes or to adjust to changing circumstances can be
made at the local level.

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 Chapter Six:

Instruments of Development

6.1 Administrative system and Bureaucracy

Chambers (1993:106), postulated recommendations made by development theorists on what the

role of the state in the years ahead ought to be. “…The state, besides being the protector and
provider, should also be liberator and enabler for the poor, permitting and promoting for them
both diversity and choice”.

Friedman (1992) criticized the doctrinal belief of “alternative development" which define the
state as the enemy, bureaucratic, corrupt, and unsympathetic to the needs of the poor, and which
assumes community actions as distinctly sufficient for the practice of development. According to
him, although alternative development must begin locally, it cannot end up there.

Since the eventual objective of development is said to be creating social equity and well-being,
the state is considered as the main instrument to ensure this objective. Above all, the state exists
with multi-dimensional social responsibilities one of which is its welfare concern, the concern
towards bringing social equality. Therefore, the state should carry on the responsibility to play
major roles in developmental activities

Schraeder (1995:73) on his part remarked, "Development is not an autonomous process

independent from cultural and political factors. It always occurs in the context of the state system
and political leadership committed to development".

Rondinelli (1993:159) also supports the above argument by expounding the fact that all actors of
development are not beyond the scope of politics. He noted, "No system of development can be
effective that ignores or discounts the political dimension of decision-making. Ultimately, all
development plans are political statements and all attempts to implement them are political
acts....”

Menendez (1991), after explaining the three major actors in development or poverty alleviation
initiatives (governments, NGOS, and multilateral and bilateral organizations), gave more
emphasis to the role of government and said, "governments can alleviate the worst aspects of

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poverty by directing public expenditure to the most vulnerable groups and by creating an
environment within which the initiatives of other actors can develop and flourish"

Development can be successful only when there is the right balance between government
intervention and particular interests of the people.

Community Based Organizations

Another major actor of development is the community itself

Advocates of this approach believe that without the involvement of local people development
activities cannot achieve the goal of poverty alleviation.

It has been proved that governments at all levels have limited capacities to provide full-fledged
program solutions to development.

Therefore, the rising idea of local level development as an option for poverty alleviation
considers the community as a unit of solution.

It is generally based on the belief that problems in communities have solutions in communities
so that people should participate in matters that affect them at the grassroots level (UNDP,
1997:6; Checkoway, 1995:3-4).

Criticism

From the conventional thinking or point of view of planners and officials, the cost of involving
the public in developmental activities is very high since the process takes too much time, energy
and resource to negotiate, convince, and get their commitment.

Extremists also consider the villager (local community) as lazy, apathetic, unresourceful,
irresponsible, ignorant, and inexperienced while the professional is the expert and knows
everything to bring development. Therefore, in view of such people, the role of the local
community in development is minimal.

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NGOs and Cooperatives

For the proponents of a “state-free” development approach, NGOs are the best actors of
development. Many of those who favor NGOs suggest that they are the type of development
agents best suited to the new paradigm.

Fowler (1988) noted that NGOs have better ability than governments and identified two
distinctive features of “comparative advantages” in ensuring development.

Advantages

Their relations with the intended beneficiaries are based on voluntarism principle rather than
controlling method.

Unlike the government, NGOs are organized in non-bureaucratic structure with the guiding
principles of flexibility, responsiveness, experimentation, and learning-by-doing process.

There are different arguments between and among development theorists and politicians
concerning the questions of major role players and the instruments development.

The following are major actors which enumerated in many literatures with their limitations and
strengths and with extreme pro and against views.

a. International Donor Agencies

Though still debatable, a number of writers also acknowledged the role of aid agencies,
particularly those multilateral donors, which have disbursed an increasing proportion of
development assistance.

Unless the roles of multilateral donors are in place, it could be very difficult to undertake
development in poor countries since government budgets often allocated for the implementation
of development projects are limited.

Therefore, these institutions can be considered as important actors in the changing climate of
development options (Irvin, 1978).

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On the other hand, there are practical reasons, which uncover (expose) the limitations of donors
in bringing the desired results. Conditions, standards and prescriptions they set as a
requirement, prerequisite, or eligibility criteria for aid or loan provision restrain both the
implementations of projects and their effectiveness in meeting the target.

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 Chapter Seven:

The Role of Planning, Planning Commission and National Development Council

Planning

1).What is planning?

Obviously, planning is an integral part of development administration. It‟s one of the most
important project & time management techniques. Planning is a sequence of action steps to
achieve some specific goal. Effective planning can reduce much the necessary resources (time,
effort) of achieving the goal. A plan is like a map. Knowing where you are is essential for
making good decisions on where to go or what to do next. it‟s crucial for meeting organization‟s
needs during each action step with it‟s time, money or other resources.

Planning is the process of thinking about & organizing the activities required to achieve a desired
goal. Its a fundamental property of intelligent behaviour. i.e psychological aspects that require
conceptual skills. Planning is about predicting or forecasting what the future should look like; it
combines forecasting with preparation of scenarios & how to react to them.

2. Why we need planning in management?

Planning is the first & foremost crucial function of management. It‟s needed at every level of
management. i.e planning is not exclusive function of top management. Absence of plan makes
meaningless the org‟s activities. Importance of planning has increased with the increasing
complexity of the organization. It has gained importance because of uncertain & constantly
changing business environment. The following shows the importance of planning:

a).Planning provides direction- obviously all employees get a direction & all their efforts are
focused towards a particular end.

b). Planning reduces risks of uncertainty- It is always done for the future & future is uncertain.
With the help of planning possible changes in the future are anticipated & various activities are
planned in the best possible way. So the risk of future uncertainty can be reduced.

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c). Planning reduces overlapping and wasteful activities- Once future activities are planned to
achieve objectives, the activities of when, where, what and why are almost decided. This puts an
end to disorder. Coordination should be established among d/t activities & dep‟ts so that ends
overlapping & wasteful activities. Eg: Financial planning- if no plan, the amount of money can
be more or less than the requirement in a given period. Both situations are undesirable. B/c- if
money is less than the requirement, the work will not be completed or if it‟s more than
requirement, the amount will remain unused & thus cause a loss of interest.

d). Planning promotes innovative ideas- planning imparts a real power of thinking in the
managers. It leads to the birth of innovative and creative ideas. For instance, planning selects
the best alternative out of many available alternatives.

All these alternatives have to be discovered. While making such an effort, many new ideas
emerge & they are studied intensively to determine the best one.

e). Planning facilitates decision making- planning sets the target for decision making. In
planning, a variety of alternatives are discovered & the best alternative is chosen. It also lays
down criteria for evaluating courses of action.

f). Planning establishes standards for controlling- in planning, standards are laid down about
their work, time, cost, etc. After the completion of the work, the actual work done is compared
with the standard work & deviations are found out & the concerned body is held responsible for
the deviation. i.e in the absence of plan, controlling is impossible.

3. What are the planning procedures?

Management planning process comprises a series of steps. It is not overnight work.

4. What are the limitations of planning?

Even though planning is important in any organization, some people think that planning is based
on the future anticipations & nothing can be said with certainty about the future. Therefore, they
felt planning as a useless process. In fact, these people point towards the difficulties in the
planning. The following are limitations of planning:

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i).Planning creates rigidity- Although the quality of flexibility is inherent in planning, the need
for change can be brought, but it must be admitted only small changes not big changes. Since its
impossible to introduce desired changes according to the changed situations, the organization
losses many chances of earning profits.

ii). Planning does not work in dynamic env’t- planning is based on the anticipation of future
happenings. Since future is uncertain & dynamic, the anticipations are not always true. Hence,
consider planning as a basis of success is like a leap in the dark. Long period of planning makes
it less effective.

iii). Planning reduces creativity- Under planning; every body works as they have been directed
to do & as it has been made clear in the plans. Since it is mostly inflexible managers do not think
about appropriate ways of discovering new alternatives.

iv). Planning involves huge costs- planning is small work but it‟s process is really big. It
requires a long path to be done. This path takes a lot of time & other resources (collecting a lot of
information, invested efforts to analysis information).

v). Planning is time consuming process- Because of its long process it cannot face sudden
emergencies. Planning is difficulty for unforeseen problem which requires immediate decision.
Thus planning is time consuming & it delays action.

vi). Planning does not guarantee success- sometimes managers think that planning solves all
their problems. Such thinking makes them neglect their real work & the adverse effect such an
attitude has to be faced by the organization.

In this way, planning offers the managers a false sense of security & makes them careless.
Hence, it can be said that mere planning does not ensure success rather efforts have to be made
for it.

5.2. Planning Commission

The planning commission was an institution in the government of India which formulated India‟s
five year plans among other functions. It was set up in 1950 by the gov‟t. Unlike in India, in
Ethiopia, there is no independent planning commission rather the function mostly performed by

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MoFED. Eg: Ethiopian Five Year Plan. It was established in accordance with their constitution.
Size of commission usually established by law (mean number of members is approximately 9).

The ultimate objective of the commission is to promote a rapid rise in the standard of living of
the people by efficient exploitation of the resources of the country, increasing production, and
offering employment opportunities for all in the service of the community.

i). Functions of PC

 Make an assessment of the material, capital and human resources of the country
necessary for development plans
 To formulate a plan for the most effective and balanced utilisation of the country s
resources.
 To determine priorities as between projects and programmes accepted in the plan.

 To determine the nature of the machinery to secure the successful implementation of the
plan.

 To appraise from time to time the progress of the plan and to recommend the necessary
adjustments of policy and measures, etc.

ii). Structures of PC (in India)

The Planning Commission consists of a Chairman, Deputy Chairman and six members. The
Prime Minister is its Chairman. The Deputy Chairman is the full-time functional head of the
Commission. Planning commission works through three major divisions:

a). Programme Advisors- They assist the members of the Commission in matters concerning
field-study and observation of various schemes and projects and the progress of their
implementation.

b). General Secretariat- It has four branches, namely—Administrative Branch, Plan Co-
ordination Branch, General Co-ordination Branch and Information and Publicity Branch.

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c). Technical Divisions- The technical divisions are responsible for scrutinising and analysing
various schemes and projects to be incorporated in the plan. Deal with specific sectors of the
economy like Irrigation and Power, Food and Agriculture, Education, Housing etc.

5.3. National Development Council

It is a body for decision making & deliberations on development matters in India, presided by the
prime Minister. It was set up by 1952 to strengthen & mobilize the effort & resources of the
nation in support of the plan, to promote the common economic policies in all vital spheres & to
ensure the balanced and rapid development of all parts of the country.

The council comprises the Prime Minister, the Union Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers of all
state, Representatives of Union Territories & the members of Planning Commission. NDC is
listed as an advisory body to planning commission but it‟s advice is not binding (compulsory).

Functions of NDC

 Prescribe guidelines for the formulation of the national plan

 Consider the national plan as formulated by the planning commission

 Consider important questions of social and economic policy affecting national dev‟t

 Review the working of the plan from time to time & recommend such measures as
necessary for achieving the aims & targets set out in national plan.

5.4. Development administration in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has been established significant agencies and programs to ensure multi-dimensional
development aspects including the following: Beautification and parks development
administration agency, Housing development and administration agency, Data base development
agency, ICT development agency, Land administration agency , micro and small enterprise
development program, Extension and advisory service agency (program)- Ethiopian
development research institute, Ethiopian transport service agency, etc.

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