Differences and Similarities between Private and Public Administration

Public Administration
Name
Institution
Differences and Similarities between Private and Public Administration
In discussing public and private administration understanding, the meaning of administration is key. Administration is the process of shaping policies, setting the desired objectives to be fulfilled, and putting down initiative or projects to meet the set objectives. Administration entails providing leadership that offers guidance and control work in achieving common goals whether in the public or in private sector (Laurence, 2006). The difference between public and private administration can be viewed looking at three main aspects of political, size of its operations and accountability. In public administration, certain features are generated due to its nature of operation. Public administration can be better defined as government offices or public companies while private administration is more related to Private Sector Company. Public administration is considered political because it operates in a political context and run on directives from the leaders elected as legislatures. The main purpose of public administration is to deliver services to the public to promote their social well-being. Therefore, they are not profit driven like the private administration. Public administration is guided by a legal framework whereby its operations are based on constitutional practice and the set rules and regulations (Laurence, 2006).
Officials working for the public are required to make decision based on the legal power bestowed on them. Contrary to this, there is a possibility that their action could be challenged in court of law (Laurence, 2006). Every action done by the officials must follow the statutory guidelines. This limitation is just a measure to ensure that public officials are not abusing the office. Any public official should maintain a high level of consistency as he/she is under a legal obligation to do so. In public administration, any employee is open to public scrutiny from time to time meaning that public operations are guided by public needs and opinion. Therefore, employees are accountable based on the legal frameworks provided by law. This is different when it comes to private administration because for private administration it is not politically affiliated (Laurence, 2006).
The main similarities between public and private administration is that both of them depend on similar technique in planning, organization operations and even managing finances as they use common skills like accounting, filing, editing, and arranging for meetings among others. Both public and private administration requires some form of service to either the customers, or public. For example, government’s consumers are the public while the private consumers are its customers. In the current situation, profit making has become acceptable in public administration as an objective, as they have also acknowledged the importance of community services. In management of personnel and developing policies private administration are greatly influenced by existing public practices and vice versa. Both the public and private administration borrows from each other workable models of management for sustainability. For example, most publ...