Public Administration for UPSC Exams: What are the Public Administration Subjects and Syllabus?

Public administration is one of the 48 optional subjects available in UPSC examination. There are two papers in public administration subjects. Each paper carries 250 marks, making it a total of 500 marks.

Aspirants can score well if they follow the right books for UPSC optional subjects and prepare well going by the public administration optional syllabus.

What is Public Administration?

Public administration refers to the academic division where students study the implementation of government policies. This subject prepares the future civil servants for working in the public service.

Syllabus of Public Administration for UPSC

Public Administration Syllabus – Civil Services Mains Exam UPSC:

Optional Subject consists of 2 papers. Each paper is of 250 marks, making a total of 500 marks.

PAPER – I

Administrative Theory

1. Introduction:

Meaning, scope and significance of Public Administration; Wilson’s vision of Public Administration; Evolution of the discipline and its present status; New Public Administration; Public Choice approach; Challenges of liberalization, Privatisation, Globalisation; Good Governance: concept and application; New Public Management.

2. Administrative Thought:

Scientific Management and Scientific Management movement; Classical Theory; Weber’s bureaucratic model

– its critique and post-Weberian Developments; Dynamic Administration (Mary Parker Follett); Human

Relations School (Elton Mayo and others); Functions of the Executive (C.I. Barnard); Simon’s decision-making theory; Participative Management (R. Likert, C. Argyris, D. McGregor).

3. Administrative Behaviour:

Process and techniques of decision-making; Communication; Morale; Motivation Theories – content, process and contemporary; Theories of Leadership: Traditional and Modern.

4. Organisations:

Theories – systems, contingency; Structure and forms: Ministries and Departments, Corporations, Companies, Boards and Commissions; Ad hoc and advisory bodies; Headquarters and Field relationships; Regulatory Authorities; Public-Private Partnerships.

5. Accountability and control:

Concepts of accountability and control; Legislative, Executive and Judicial control over administration; Citizen and Administration; Role of media, interest groups, voluntary organizations; Civil society; Citizen’s Charters; Right to Information; Social audit.

6. Administrative Law:

Meaning, scope and significance; Dicey on Administrative law; Delegated legislation; Administrative Tribunals.

7. Comparative Public Administration:

Historical and sociological factors affecting administrative systems; Administration and politics in different countries; Current status of Comparative Public Administration; Ecology and administration; Riggsian models and their critique.

8. Development Dynamics:

Concept of development; Changing profile of development administration; ‘Anti development thesis’; Bureaucracy and development; Strong state versus the market debate; Impact of liberalisation on administration

in developing countries; Women and development – the self-help group movement.

9. Personnel Administration:

Importance of human resource development; Recruitment, training, career advancement, position classification, discipline, performance appraisal, promotion, pay and service conditions; employer-employee relations, grievance redressal mechanism; Code of conduct; Administrative ethics.

10. Public Policy:

Models of policy-making and their critique; Processes of conceptualisation, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review and their limitations; State theories and public policy formulation.

11. Techniques of Administrative Improvement:

Organisation and methods, Work study and work management; e-governance and information technology; Management aid tools like network analysis, MIS, PERT, CPM.

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