Communication in Public Administration
| Author | E.P. Laberge |
| Published date | 01 March 1959 |
| Date | 01 March 1959 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002085235902500111 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
iii
tutes,
particularly
the
stating
of
the
reasons
for
administrative
acts.
The
stage
of
development
reached
by
non-
litigious
administrative
procedure
in
Sweden
has
been
described
by
Professor
Herlitz,
who
has
stated
that
even
the
administrative
tri-
bunals
have,
in
theory,
recourse
to
a
procedure
by
no
means
different,
as
regards
its
basic
principles
from
non-litigious
procedure.
Any
differences
are
rather
the
result
of
the
mem-
bership
and
degree
of
independence
of
the
or-
gans
than
of
procedure.
In
1942,
Parliament
I
had
decided
that
the
rules
of
non-litigious
ad-
ministrative
procedure
should
be
reduced
to
a ;
system,
and
Professor
Herlitz
prepared
a
re-
markable
report
which
is
a
most
valuable
sour-
ce
of
knowledge
in
that
field.
Although
codi-
fication
is
still
in
the
preparatory
stage,
it
)
should
be
pointed
out
that
Sweden
provides
i
an
example
of
time-honoured
procedural
tra- ;
dition,
which
shows
up
the
vital
part
played
by
modern
solutions
that
are
applied
in
prac-
<
tice
without
having
been
codified.
Communication
in
Public
Administration
by
E.
P.
LABERGE,
Deputy
Director,
ESAPAC.
1
In
1958,
the
Advanced
School
of
Public
Ad-
ministration
for
Central
America
included
I
« Communication
in
Public
Administration *
;
among
its
courses,
devoting
seven
lectures
and
eleven
Round
Table
meetings
to
the
subjects,
under
the
guidance
of
ESAPAC
professors ;
and
Unesco
representatives.
,
!
COMMUNICATION
IS
UNIVERSAL
)
i
Interest
in
communication
was
primarily
j
evinced
by
businessmen
and
industrialists,
and
writings
on
the
subject
stem
mainly
from
bu-
siness
administration
circles.
The
aim
of
this
article
is
to
foster
study
of
communication
also
in
public
administration
circles.
The
term
-communication,,
in
public
ad-
ministration,
covers :
1.
Internal,
i.e.
strictly
administrative
com-
munication,
serving
to
expound
policy
to
the
staff,
and
to
promote
the
exchange
of
ideas
and
opinions;
2.
Internal
communication
in
a
less
formal
sense,
between
supervisors
and
their
subordi-
nates,
and
between
staff
at
the
same
level;
3.
Communication
with
the
general
public,
mainly
to
give
or
to
collect
information.
Administrative
procedures
in
this
field
are
so
diverse
that
there
exists
no
administrative
activity
in
which
some
aspect
of
communica-
tion
is
not
involved.
In
public
administration,
the
tradition
is
to
stress
the
legal
aspects
of
government
activity.
But,
in
spite
of
civil
service
regulations,
civil
service
activity
is
not
always
as
anticipated,
with
a
resulting
loss
of
administrative
efficien-
cy.
This
is
often
due
to
the
lack
of
adequate
and
systematic
communications.
Another
pos-
sible
cause
is
to
be
found
in
the
structural
dif-
ference
between
private
and
public
enterprises,
procedures
such
as
delegation
of
authority
and
control
being
semi-automatic
in
the
latter.
COMMUNICATION
AND
SEMANTICS
Semantics
is
the
study
of
the
meaning
of
words.
The
modern
conception
of
semantics
has
given
words
an
increasingly
important
place
in
human
activity,
largely
under
the
in-
fluence
of
the
American
pragmatism
of
the
last
thirty
years.
Semantics
has
been
directed
towards
practical
ends
especially
in
advertis-
ing.
An
endeavour
has
also
been
made
to
ap-
ply
it
to
administration,
as
a
reaction
against
overspecialised
terminology.
Scholars
like
Korzybinski,
Lewin
and
Redfield
have
tried
to
relate
semantics
to
the
various
exact
and
social
sciences.
According
to
Redfield,
there
are
five
factors
in
every
communication
process :
the
sender
-
the
message
-
the
occasion
for
the
message
-
the
receiver
of
the
message
-
his
reaction
to
the
message.
Taking
into
account
Redfield’s
analysis
of
the
components
of
the
communication
process,
civil
servants
should
be
able
to
utilise
it
with
a
view
to
extending
the
scope
of
their
informa-
tion,
influence
and
control.
They
should
se-
lect
the
appropriate
media,
e.g.
letters,
circu-
lars,
telephone,
telegram,
interviews,
conferen-
ces,
round
table
and
other
meetings,
either
public
or
confidential.
’
THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL
ASPECTS
OF
COMMUNICATION
It
is
important
for
both
the
sender
and
the
receiver
of
a
communication
to
have
an
open
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