ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature of administration, explains the specific field of public administration and presents some of the similarities and differences between public and business administration. It briefly examines the growth of governmental organizations and the resulting demand for expert and efficient governmental service. The chapter shows how this led to programs of research and training in public administration. It presents some fundamental distinctions between the "scientific" and the "practical" approaches to administrative theory. By public administration is meant, in common usage, the activities of the executive branches of national, state, and local governments; independent boards and commissions set up by Congress and state legislatures; government corporations; and certain other agencies of a specialized character. Specifically excluded are judicial and legislative agencies within the government and non-governmental administration. Sociologists have compared the growth of governmental activities to the rate of industrial invention and traced the demands for governmental action to the impact of various technological advances.
