ABSTRACT

There are many ways to approach public management issues. Two, however, explain why the field is characterized by strong differences in views and approaches. The first focuses on tasks of administration, best described by Luther Gulick, one of the founders of the public administration field: All executives perform similar functions, whether they are in the United States, in other countries, or in the private sector. He called those functions POSDCORB, a term that is made up of the initials of a range of activities that take place inside an organization. In addition, this approach tends to concentrate on a top-down administrative approach. The functions are planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting.