Development Administration

The origin of the concept of development administration goes back to the period

when developed and richer countries thought about transforming the poorer and

newly-emerging States by the transfer of resources. Government and public

sponsored bodies were roped in to hasten their modernization process from agrarian

to industrial. This gave birth to transfer of resources through international bodies,

aid programmes and bilateral agreements. Mostly, the Third World countries would

use these resources in bringing about the required changes in education, health,

capital investment, communication, science and research. As this was not enough,

the recipient countries realised the need for development administration and

accordingly shifted their focus on reforming their own public policy. However, this

required both qualitative and quantitative changes in bureaucratic policies and

changes are needed both on structural and behavioural fronts. Concept of

development administration was brought in by the West and especially by American

scholars. They perceived modern administration as a mechanism for the attainment

of developmental goals.

As development theorists like Esman and Wriggins stressed that the

development tasks were of universal application, the role of efficient management

of public development programmes and the stimulation of private development

programmes came to the fore.

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In addition to discussing the concept of development especially in the Third

World countries, this unit also explains the changing role of development

administration.

13.1 OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you will be able to:

 Discuss the concept of development

 Analyse the changing role of development administration

 Enumerate characteristics of development administration

 Explain priorities of development administration

13.2 CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT AND

CHANGING ROLE OF DEVELOPMENT

ADMINISTRATION

The concept of Development Administration has a contemporary origin mainly

due to the work of American experts on comparative administration.

Edward Weidner, one of the pioneers in this field, defined Development

Administration as an action-oriented, goal-oriented system. Development

Administration had its origin in the desire of the richer countries to aid the poorer

countries and more especially in the obvious needs of the newly-emerging States

to transform their colonial bureaucracies into more responsible instruments of

societal change. The simple underlying conception was that the transfer of resources

and knowledge would hasten the modernization process from agrarian to industrial,

using government and public sponsored bodies as change agents. The transform

of resources would be conducted through international bodies, mutual aid

programmes and bilateral agreements and the recipients would channel their new

generate change of their own accord, such as, education, health, capital investment,

communication, science and research. But foreign aid did not turn out to be universal
stimuli. For some newly emerging countries, it was a drop in the ocean compared

with its requirements. Thus, Development Administration spread its interest from

foreign aid programmes to the domestic public policy programmes of recipients.

At that time, it was largely a virgin territory. Many colonial administrators

showed no interest or may be the new political leaders had no experience in State

craft and very little competence. As no one had tried before to hasten development

artificially, there were no guidelines. At first, everything had to be improved before

any kind of base could be established and from which coherent public policies

could be formulates and practical programmes implemented. In fact, the

developmental network had to be super imposed on a traditional law and order

frame or placed alongside the existing structure.

The main characteristics of development administration are:

 Development Administration is grounded in normative concepts that

development can be planned, directed and controlled, that improvement in

quality and quantity of societal products is desirable, that obstacles to

development can be overcome.

 Development Administrations grounded in reality as it concerns itself with

the practical solution of human problems, the daily problems of public

administration and the real world in which people live.

 Development Administration is time consuming. Development Administration

performs a series of function for which the physical, social, psychological

and institutional resources are seldom available in sufficient quantity in the

proper combinations.

 The obstacles to achievement are so often overpowering and time is a

relentless energy to those who hope to realize results in decades rather than

centuries.

 Development Administration is universal. It rejects any distinction between

countries that appear to be generating their own changes where growth is

spontaneous needing no artificial stimulus and where the capacity to cope

requisite components of self-development and where change has to be

induced externally through governmental action. All countries are developing

some at a faster pace than others and in different developmental problems.

The most serious problem of all, however, is the persistent gap between

rich and poor countries, quickly developing and slowly developing regions

and the possibility that the gap between them is widening up.

 Development Administration is change-oriented. The distinctive mark of

Development Administration is its central concern with rapid socio-economic

change. This special orientation distinguishes Development Administration

from general administration which is basically concerned with maintenance

of status quo. It is the government influenced change towards progressive

political economic and social objectives. Development Administration

includes the organizations of new agencies such as planning organizations

and development corporations, the reorientation of established agencies

such as departments of agriculture, the delegations of administrative powers

to development agencies and the creation of a cadre of administrators who

can provide leadership in stimulating and supporting programmes of social

and economic improvement.

 It has the purpose of making change attractive and possible. It consists of

efficient management of public development programmes and the stimulation

of private development programmes. M.J. Esman, in his book, The Politics

of Development Administration defines the task of nation-building and

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socio-economic development in broad political rather than administrative

terms. These as follows:

o Achieving security against external aggression and ensuring internal order

o Establishing and maintaining consensus on the legitimacy of the regime

o Integrating diverse ethnic, religious, communal and regional elements

into a national political community

o Organizing and distributing formal powers and functions among organs

of central regional and local governments and between public authority

and the private sector

o Displacement of rested traditional social and economic interests

o Development of modernizing skills and institutions

o Fostering psychological and material security

o Mobilization of saving and current financial resources

o Rational programming of investment

o Efficient management of facilities and services

o Activating participation in modernizing activities essentially in decision

making roles

o Achieving a secure position in international community

Esman had the Third World in mind when he was writing the Functions of

Development Administration but in his opinion, the development tasks are of

universal application. Howard Wriggins explains the tasks of Development

Administration. These are as follows:

 To provide the minimum of essential services

 Maximum utilization of material and manpower resources

 Protection to weaker sections of the community

 Devise ways and means to integrate diverse communal religious, tribal and

other elements into a national political community

 Development of educational infrastructure together with vocational and

professional institutions

 Development Administration is result-oriented. Since, changes have to be

brought about rapidly and within a defined time limit, it has to be result

oriented.

 Its performance is related to productivity in terms of increase in per capita

income, provisions of health and welfare facilities.

 Commitment to work, commitment to change and concern for completing

time-bound programs constitute the organizational role expectations in

development administration. Administrators are expected to be involved

and emotionally attached to jobs they are called upon to perform. The rapid

socio-economic development requires a sharp break from the past. The

new strategy of decision-making that promises to fit with the aspiration of

the people and goals of development seems to be the inhibition of the process

of participative, decision-making after due consultation with field officers.

 Client orientation: Development administration is client-oriented in the sense

that, it is positively oriented towards satisfying the needs of specific target

groups. Hence, their satisfaction is an important criterion for evaluating

performance. The people are looked at as active participants in public

programmes. This close nexus between public and administration is an

essential attribute of Development Administration.

Most of the developmental plans in a society have to be citizen oriented as

it is the citizen who ultimately derives the benefit of development. The officials

working are supposed to be nearer to the citizens and have therefore, a continuing
responsibility to acquaint the higher officials about the problems at their levels,

since they have to initiate policy actions about the overall assessment of the need

of the people. In the development context, therefore, frequent consultations and

participative decisions between higher and lower level of officials are inevitable.

The administration does well in taking participative decisions where the lower

level officials have the opportunity of bringing to the notice of higher officials the

desires of a common man. The pay-off from participative decisions may at times

bring about improved performance of activities meant to ensure the maximum

good for the maximum number of persons, bringing administration to the doorstep

of the citizen and bringing about a direct relationship between the client and the

administration which is a driving force behind decentralization in most developing

countries. Hence the traditional concept of people as passive beneficiaries has to

be replaced by the newer concept of people as active participants