Part A: Theory and structure
Administrative theory
Key takeaways
- Public administration theory has moved from Wilson's politics-administration dichotomy, through Weber's bureaucratic model and New Public Management, to today's good-governance paradigm of transparency, accountability and citizen participation.
- Gulick's POSDCORB names the core administrative processes: planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting.
- Judicial review examines the legality, not the merits, of an administrative decision, on the three grounds classified in the GCHQ case: illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety.
- In Kenya, the Fair Administrative Action Act, 2015 gives statutory effect to the constitutional right to administrative action that is expeditious, efficient, lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.
- Authority is the formal right attached to an office, power is the actual capacity to affect outcomes, and influence affects decisions through persuasion, expertise or relationships without either.
A Certified Secretary's governance duties are not confined to the private company boardroom, county and national public entities carry their own secretarial, compliance and audit functions, and this paper builds the public-sector counterpart to the corporate governance covered elsewhere in the CS course.
The evolution of public administration
Public administration theory has moved from the classical politics-administration dichotomy (Woodrow Wilson's view that elected politicians decide policy while administrators neutrally implement it), through the bureaucratic model (Weber's hierarchy and formal rules, covered in CS Management Principles and Practice), to New Public Management (importing private-sector efficiency techniques into government) and today's good-governance paradigm, emphasising transparency, accountability and citizen participation (see the chapter on citizen participation).
Concepts and principles of administration
- Hierarchy of authority, mirroring the bureaucratic model
- Division of labour and specialisation among public offices
- Accountability to the public and to elected oversight bodies (see the chapter on resource stewardship)
- Efficiency and effectiveness in delivering public services
- Service in the public interest rather than private or partisan gain
Administrative processes
Luther Gulick's classic POSDCORB model, an early public-sector cousin of the P-O-L-C framework covered generally at Foundation level (in CS Management Principles and Practice, under planning and organising), names the core administrative processes:
- Planning
- Organising
- Staffing
- Directing
- COordinating
- Reporting
- Budgeting
Judicial review
Judicial review allows the courts to examine the legality, not the merits, of administrative decisions, on grounds such as illegality (acting beyond legal power), irrationality (a decision no reasonable authority could reach), and procedural impropriety (failing to follow fair process). In Kenya, the Fair Administrative Action Act, 2015 gives statutory effect to the constitutional right to administrative action that is expeditious, efficient, lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.
Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service [1985] AC 374 (House of Lords, 22 November 1984, the 'GCHQ case')
Lord Diplock classified the grounds of judicial review of administrative action into three heads: illegality (the decision-maker must correctly understand and give effect to the law empowering it to act), irrationality (Wednesbury unreasonableness, a decision so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could have made it), and procedural impropriety (failure to follow fair procedure or the rules of natural justice). The Lords also held that a decision's power being derived from the royal prerogative rather than statute does not by itself put it beyond judicial review. Kenyan courts, including in judicial review proceedings under the Fair Administrative Action Act, 2015, have repeatedly adopted this three-fold classification as the starting point for analysing a challenge to administrative action, treating it as persuasive rather than binding authority.
The cases in this chapter are genuine, reported authorities; none is invented for illustration.
Features of administrative systems
- A defined hierarchy of offices
- Specialisation of function between offices
- Operation according to formal rules and procedures
- Impersonality, decisions follow rules rather than personal relationships (Weber's bureaucratic theory)
- Record-keeping and documentation of decisions and actions
Authority, power and influence
Administration and politics
The classical politics-administration dichotomy treats politics (deciding what should be done) and administration (carrying it out) as cleanly separate, but in practice administrators exercise real discretion and influence policy through advice and implementation choices, and political actors regularly intervene in administrative matters, so the relationship is better understood as intertwined than strictly separated.
Challenges of public administration
- Corruption and misuse of public resources
- Limited institutional and human capacity
- Resource and budgetary constraints (see the chapter on resource stewardship)
- Political interference in administrative decisions
- Bureaucratic delay and excessive red tape
- Coordination difficulties between national and county levels (see intergovernmental relations in the chapter on government organisation)
Exam tip
The three grounds for judicial review (illegality, irrationality, procedural impropriety) are commonly tested against a described administrative decision, identify which ground, if any, the scenario supports.
Self-check
(a) A licensing body revokes a trader's licence without giving the trader any opportunity to respond to the allegations against them. Applying the GCHQ case, identify which ground of judicial review this engages. (3 marks)
(b) A minister makes a decision so unreasonable that no reasonable minister could have made it, though the decision itself was within the minister's legal power. Identify the ground of judicial review this engages. (2 marks)
(c) State the classical politics-administration dichotomy, and one reason it is now considered too simple. (3 marks)
(d) Name the seven elements of Gulick's POSDCORB model. (2 marks)
Show worked answer
(a) Procedural impropriety, failing to follow fair procedure or the rules of natural justice, here the right to be heard before an adverse decision (3 marks).
(b) Irrationality (Wednesbury unreasonableness), a decision so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could have made it, even where the decision-maker acted within its legal power (2 marks).
(c) The dichotomy holds that elected politicians decide policy while administrators neutrally implement it, a clean separation between deciding and doing; it is now considered too simple because administrators exercise real discretion and influence policy through advice and implementation choices, and political actors regularly intervene in administrative matters, so the relationship is better understood as intertwined than strictly separated (3 marks).
(d) Planning, Organising, Staffing, Directing, COordinating, Reporting, Budgeting (2 marks).