Sociological Aspects in American and British Administrative Science
| Author | O. Haussleiter |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085236002600103 |
| Published date | 01 March 1960 |
| Date | 01 March 1960 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Sociological
Aspects
in
American
and
British
Administrative
Science
(*)
by
Dr.
O.
HAUSSLEITER,
Ministerialrat.
UDC
301.186.1 :
35.06
(73
+ 42)
In
my
essay
on
T’he
Sociological
Aspects
of
Administrative
Science
in
Germany
( 1 ),
I
mentioned
that
through
the
work
of
Lorenz
von
Stein,
who
died
in
1890,
this
field
had
achieved
major
importance
in
the
second
half
of
the
nineteenth
century
both
as
a
subject
of
academic
instruction
and
an
area
of
research.
At
the
turn
of
the
century,
the
trend
towards
an
individual
science
had
been
suppressed
by
the
dogmatic
method
of
jurisprudence
introduced
into
administrative
law
by
Otto
Mayer,
a
method
which
has
prevailed
in
Ger-
many
until
now.
This
degression
towards
jurisprudence
lasted
for
fifty
years
and,
even
later
on,
the
pioneer
work
of
Lorenz
von
Stein
was
not
further
developed
in
Germany.
In
the
United
States,
however,
the
German
theories
of
the
eighteen-eighties
were
taken
up
and
extended
in
the
field
of
Administra-
tive
Science.
Albert
Lepawski
explains
this
situation
in
his
book
Administration
(1949,
page
650)
when
he
states
that
many
young
American
scholars
imported
German
concepts
which
helped
to
pave
the
way
for
this
field
in
the
United
States.
These,
of
course,
were
not
the
only
sources
of
influence :
scientific
argumentation
was
used
in
fighting
the
abuses
of
the
spoils
system
and,
as
early
as
1887,
Woodrow
Wilson
asked
for
a
strict
separation
of
administrative
operations
from
politics
and
policy.
He
argued
that
adminis-
tration,
by
being
reduced
to
a
mere
techni-
que,
could
be
used
for
any
arbitrary
purpose.
Even
the
administrative
set-up
of
undemo-
cratic
states
would
lend
itself
to
profitable
study.
That
possibility
was
feasible,
he
added,
because
the
responsibility
for
a
de-
mocratic
government
rested
solely
with
its
head
(who
was
in
turn
elected
and
controlled
by the people).
The
works
of
Frederick
W.
Taylor,
espe-
cially
the
book
Scientific
Management
( 1911 )
reflect
his
ideas
which
are
primarily
concern-
ed
with
the
problem
of
efficient
industrial
production.
Indeed,
the
term
« efficiency
»
came
to
be
the
key-note
for
both
Business
and
Public
Administration,
the
two
subjects
which
were
often
taught
and
learned
as
being
closely
related
to
each
other.
The
importance
of
Public
Relations
as
one
of
the
factors
which
enable
effective
adminis-
tration
to
be
maintained
has
been
recognized
since
about
1935,
both
with
big
business
en-
terprises
and
later
with
public
administra-
tion.
Thus,
the
excesses
of
Taylorism
were
abandoned
and
the
new
science
was
regarded
from
a
point
of
view
which
was
particularly
interesting
for
sociological
investigation,
na-
mely
the
relation
between
public
administra-
tion
and
the
individual
citizen.
As
a
rule,
American
administration
is
taught
separately
and
independently
from
its
object,
i.e.
an
area
to
which
administration
is
applied.
Con-
sequently,
the
teaching
of
administration
covers
the
methods,
and
the
technique
can
be
applied
to
all
branches
of
public
as
well
as
business
administration.
The
position
of
the
top
manager
A is
con-
sidered
to
be
very
important.
Luther
Gulick
summarizes
the
seven
functions
of this
top
executive
in
the
phrase
POSDCORB
which
includes
the
following
seven
functions :
Planning,
Organizing,
Staffing,
Directing,
Co-
ordinating,
Relating,
and
Budgeting.
Ame-
rican
textbooks
on
administrative
science
al-
ways
contain
chapters
on
organisation,
man-
agement,
and
rationalisation.
Of
the
text-
books
and
anthologies
on
the
subject,
I
find
those
of
Leonard
D.
White,
Albert
Lepawski
(*)
The
German
version
of
this
article
appeared
in
« Die
öffentliche
Verwaltung »,
1959,
pages
168-170.
(1)
«
Die
öffentliche
Verwaltung
»,
1958,
pages
65-67.
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