Midterm Essay 1
Midterm Essay assignment
Name: Farhat Mir
Liberty University
PADM 501
Professor: Robert Paterson
Date: November 11th , 2025
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Abstract
In this essay I will write about the difference between Public administration and private
management. I will explain how classical theory is used to make bureaucracy more effective and
efficient. Public administration and private organizations have different goals and focuses. Public
organizations serve public interest and are government owned and funded whereas pirate
organizations are owned by the private sector and the main goal is to generate profit. In public
administration the success of the organization depends on the decision making body. In this
essay I will discuss the different aspects of public administration organization and how it impacts
the human resources, management, operations and what kind of framework organizational
theory
provides in public administration organizations.
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“Under classical organizational theory, there is a strong emphasis on structure, hierarchy, and
efficiency — with employees typically reporting up a clear chain of command. This type of
approach tends to be best applied in stable work environments where employees perform more
repetitive tasks” (JWU, 2025). Public administration organizations are not profit generated
organizations, these organizations are funded by the government/ tax payers’ money and the
focus is to serve the public. Public administration organizations have limited budgets therefore
organization theories are very important for the public administration organization, their
managers and the leadership. These organizations run on limited resources and the
administration has to run the organization within the limited resources and produce the best
possible outcome to maintain the public trust and interest. Doing more with less has become a
mantra which has made it essential to focus attention on internal behavior, dynamics, and
leadership within organizations (Milakovich & Gordon, 2013, p. 144). Organizations have to
struggle on a constant basis to overcome different problems they face in their operations.
Maintaining the public trust and providing the best services in limited resources provided
becomes a constant struggle for public administration organizations. These organizations face
multiple issues at the same time which include: unhappy employees, employee’s mental and
physical health, decrease in profit, long work hours and slow production. In the organizations
where positive policies are implemented they have high turnout, high profits, happy workforce
and more production.
Theories about management began more than four thousand years ago but most of the recent
and successful theories which are helping the organizations in a modern way are around for the
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last hundred years. “More specifically, the roots of organizational theory can, at least partially,
be traced back to Max Weber’s contribution in the mid-1950s. During this time, Weber began
writing about his own findings as they related to organizational and relational rules. These
publications served as the foundation for organizational theory as it applies today” (JWU, 2025).
There are two other famous organizational theorists Fredrick Winslow and Woodrow Wilson
who have worked on the employees’ contribution towards the success of an organization. Their
theories came at the time when it was the beginning of the industrial era.
Fredreik Wilsow Tayler is famous for developing scientific management theory. His work was
towards industrial efficiency development through the application of scientific methods. Tyler
studied time and motion studies and he believed that for any given task, there was a single
"best way" to perform it, and that way is through time-and-motion studies. Tyler focused on
maximizing productivity by eliminating waste and was highly influential among reformers and he
believed that it's the right theory to make the governments more effective and efficient.
“Taylor believed that the reason why most organizations failed was due to the fact that they
lacked successful systematic management. He wrote that “the best management is true science
resting upon clearly defined laws, rules, and principles, as a foundation. “Taylor, F. (1913).
Woodrow Wilson is known as the father of public administration. In 1887 in his essay" The study
of administration” his focus was a separation between the politics and the administration.
Wilson's main point in his arguments was that politics should focus on making the policies and
administration should be responsible to implement those policies. Wilson defined public
administration as the "detailed and systematic application of law". He defined administration as
a link between the legal framework and its execution. “The only political scientist to have been
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elected to the White House, Wilson was a widely influential progressive scholar prior to his
tenure in national politics. Among his most famous academic works is the essay excerpted
below, “The
Study of Administration.”(“The Study of Administration,” n.d.)
Every theorist focused on their perspective of their theory at the time these theories were
created. Every era has its own priorities, policies and political environment. Fredrick theory had
four basic principles: one is to find the best way to complete the task, assignment of the task
was another important factor in his theory; he emphasized on matching the task based on the
employee's expertise, constant supervisory, and use of punishment and rewards to motivate the
employees. Tyler’s theory was very successful in achieving the goal of production. He focused
on getting the best manpower and the equipment and utilizing those to get the best results.
Although Tyler’s theory was very helpful and successful in the industrial sector, it faced several
challenges in other organizational sectors. Since Tyler’s theory was based on production first
people second had to face many challenges since hardware can never be more important than a
human being. Tyler’s theory if implemented today will diversify the production because of loss
of pride in workmanship and complete loss of organizational pride due to the one focus
“production”. On a positive side Tyler’s theory helps the manager in future prediction and need
of manpower.
Max Weber’s theory focuses on the clear line of authority and he focuses on control and less
diversity in the organizational chart. Max Weber’s theory is more political and it focuses on
power and hierarchical structure. He also emphasized the human aspects of power in an
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organizational structure and gave importance to human interaction. He had four principals for
an organizational structure which are: each position should have the responsibilities and
authority. Second he made specialized tasks very important and the allocation of special
responsibilities to the people with the expertise in that field. He focused on predictability and
stability. Impartial recruitment and manpower allocation which can lead to the best productive
structure.
Each of these theorists put their efforts together to make sure their theories help the
organization to get the best possible results and achieve the goals.
Public administration organizations are funded by the government / tax payer’s money and are
responsible for public program management, government policies implementation and serving
the public interest.
Private management companies/ organizations are owned by private parties and their focus and
goal is to produce profit. Both public administration and private companies have different
foundational principles and they run on those principals.
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To serve the Public
Funded by the Taxes
Public, private and Legal Accountability
Citizens and elected officials are the main
stakeholders
Focus on public interest
Success is measured by social welfare and
public safety
Run by public servants
Allocate, reallocate & control resources
Maximum Profit
Private investments
Market and shareholders
Shareholders, Customers & Employees are the
main stakeholders
Focus on company’s financial gains
Success is measured by profit &Market Success
Run by board of governors
Generate and allocate resources
Public administration organizations have a lot of political influence hence managing resources is
a political process and focus is to serve the government purpose. Focus of a classical theory in
public administration organizations is efficient structure and hierarchy. Decision making in public
administration organizations follows three different models and theories: Classical approach,
Herbert Simon’s theory and modern approach. In a classical approach there is a chain of
Public administration Private Management
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command, the decision making starts from top to the bottom and the higher management has
the control and they make the decision and pass it down. Some public administration
organizations follow Herbert Simon’s theory where their decision making depends on
intelligence, design and choice. “An organization has only two fundamental tasks: decision-
making and “making things happen”. The decision-making process involves intelligently
gathering facts and values and designing a plan. Simon generally approaches this process as a
reasonably rational one” (Little, 2019).
Some public administration organizations follow the modern decision making theory which
focuses on decentralization in decision making.
Classical approach in human resources focuses on specialized tasks and strict supervision. With
time public organizations realized that human resources needs to make the employees valuable
and not treat them just as a tool. In a public administration organization where the focus is to
serve the public, it's very important to motivate the employees and encourage them by making
employees a priority. Employees' wellbeing, mental and physical health must be a priority to get
the results and achieve the goals.
References:
JWU. (2025, June 17). What Is Organizational Theory? History, Applications, and More | JWU
Online. JWU Online. https://online.jwu.edu/blog/what-is-organizational-theory/
Milakovich, M., & Gordon, G. (2011). Public administration in America (11th ed.).
Cengage Le“The Study of Administration.” (n.d.). Teaching American History.
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-study-of-administration-2 learning.
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Classical Theories of Organizational Communication. (n.d.). 2012books.lardbucket.org.
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/an-introduction-to-organizational-communication/
s05 classical-theories-of-organiza.html
Little, D. (2019, June 20). Herbert Simon’s theories of organizations. Understanding Society.
https://undsoc.org/2019/06/19/herbert-simons-theories-of-organizations/
