Public administration Theories - Term Paper Example

Principally, theories attempt to explicitly explain and discuss various aspects of the psychological, social, and physical worlds, accurately and successfully predicting the underlying elements (Basu, 2004). This paper discusses the major theories of public administration as envisaged by various scholars, explicitly describing their implications in various settings within organizations or state bodies. Scientific Management Theory According to Farmer (2010), Fredrick Winslow Taylor conducted scientific studies and applied them to management problems.

Although he was an engineer by profession, he managed to solve management problems successfully through his scientific studies (Raj, 2005). This is because he believed that management was a science that had specific governing laws and principles, an approach that several management scholars adopted in their studies to improve on his work. Through his scientific approach, Taylor emphasized the essence of partnership between the management and the staff in fulfilling an organization’s objectives through scientific management techniques.

Taylor strongly believed that the prosperity of any social organization rested on the success of application and implementation of certain scientific changes whereby scientific training was the major motivating factor towards abandoning the old ways of doing things (Farmer, 2010). With respect to the performance of various workers at different levels, Taylor proposed the use of motion study that involved the evaluation of the workers’ performance against the time they took to accomplish their duties.

Some of Taylor’s scientific management principles included solving management challenges through scientific approaches, cordial relationship between workers and management based on scientific methods, and scientific training of workers in order to attain efficiency (Basu, 2004).  Although Taylor made tremendous achievements together with his associates such as Henry Gantt, Lillian Gilbreth, and Frank Gilbreth, they faced a number of criticisms from various quarters. One major criticism was the fact that the scientific approach to management perceived man as a machine, an issue that some preceding scholars found rather awkward to address.

The psychological thinkers such as March and Simon insisted that Taylor ignored the human factor in the scientific management theory, a major aspect in psychological studies. In addition, the opponents of Taylorism theory, such as workers and managers, cited some elements of inflexibility in the approach (Denhardt, 2011).  Classical Theory According to Basu (2004), March and Simon in the mid-20th century professed this theory, terming it as the mechanical theory, the administrative management theory, or simply the structural theory.

Later, Henri Fayol together with other scholars suggested through the structural theory that administrative work remained administrative work, the work performed and the circumstances surrounding the performance of the work notwithstanding. They categorically argued that administrative knowledge surpassed other forms of knowledge such as technical knowledge, and various management personnel could apply this kind of knowledge to a wide spectrum such as religion, government institutions, and organizations (Denhardt, 2011).

 Fayol, in furtherance of his studies, classified administrative duties into five major categories that included planning, control, coordination,