Public Administration: Very Important Books & Authors

Public Administration: Very Important Books & Authors

Foundational Works & Authors

• The Study of Administration (1887) – Woodrow Wilson: Started academic discipline of Public Administration; Politics-Administration Dichotomy
• Politics and Administration: A Study in Government (1900) – Frank Johnson Goodnow: Furthered politics-administration dichotomy
• The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) – Frederick Taylor: Scientific management principles
• Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy (1911) – Robert Michels: Iron Law of Oligarchy
• General and Industrial Management (1916) – Henri Fayol: 14 principles of management
• Economy and Society (1921) – Max Weber: Bureaucratic theory
• Introduction to the Study of Public Administration (1926) – L.D. White: 1st textbook in Public Administration
• Principles of Public Administration (1927) – W.F. Willoughby: 2nd textbook in Public Administration

Scientific & Administrative Approaches

• Papers on the Science of Administration (1937) – Luther Gulick & Lyndall Urwick: POSDCORB, principles of administration
• Notes on Theory of Organizations (1937) – Chester Barnard: Organization as social cooperative system; Zone of Indifference
• The Functions of the Executive (1938) – Chester Barnard: Dynamic Administration
• Creative Experience (1924) – Mary Parker Follett: Constructive conflict, law of situation, situational leadership
• Administrative Behaviour (1947) – Herbert Simon: Bounded rationality, satisficing, administrative man

Behavioural & Human Relations Approach

• Organisation (1958) – Douglas McGregor
• The Human Side of Enterprise (1960) – Elton Mayo: Human relations approach
• The Administrative State (1948) – Dwight Waldo: Values back in Public Administration

Ecological & Comparative Administration

• Agraria and Industria (1955) – Fred W. Riggs: Comparative administration typology
• The Ecology of Public Administration (1961) – Fred W. Riggs: Link between social class, status, and bureaucracy
• Administration in Developing Countries (1964) – Fred W. Riggs

Feminist Approach

• The Feminist Case Against Bureaucracy (1984) – Kathy E. Ferguson
• Gender Images in Public Administration (1993) – Camilla Stivers
• Bureau Men, Settlement Women (2000) – Camilla Stivers
• Democracy, Bureaucracy, And the Study of Administration (2001) – Camilla Stivers

New Public Administration & Management Approaches

• Managing for Results (1964) – Peter Drucker: Management by objective
• Reinventing Government (1992) – David Osborne & Ted Gaebler: New Public Management
• Creating Public Value (1995) – Mark Moore: Public sector should create public value
• The New Public Service: Serving, Not Steering (2003) – Robert B. Denhardt & Sheldon Sanford Wolin: NPS approach
• Ethics and Public Administration (1993) – H. George Frederickson & Herbert Kaufman

Pluralist & Political Approaches

• Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City (1961) – Robert Dahl: Pluralist decision-making theory
• The Science of Public Administration: Three Problems (1947) – Robert Dahl: Values, behavior, and culture