WOODROW WILSON

The Study of Administration

The Study of Administration by Woodrow Wilson

Introduction

It is now fifty years since Woodrow Wilson wrote his brilliant essay “The study of Administration” on public administration. It is a good essay to reread every so often; there is so much in it that sounds modern, so much that will hold permanently true. Was this said only yesterday? No, Woodrow Wilson plainly saw the importance of governmental administration half a century ago. Yet democracies have badly neglected administrative principles and structural improvements.

Discussion

Political scientists owe Woodrow Wilson a debt of gratitude for opening their eyes to the broader importance and implications of the administration. His keen mind also discerned the task which would occupy the attention of administrative theorists long after he left. Freedom and democratic effectiveness may be one and the same thing. The ends of the state can be achieved only through an efficient administrative instrument. Hence, as Woodrow Wilson correctly observed, administration is "raised very far above the dull level of mere technical detail by the fact that, through its greater principles directly connected with the lasting maxims of political wisdom, the permanent truths of political progress" (Wilson, 1987).

Administration is generic (Braman, 2003). It is a social science concept which applies to all organized group activity. Administration arises whenever organization occurs. There are common problems and processes in the household, the school, the church, the business corporation, and the vast, modern state. After deciding upon objectives, means must be devised for carrying out the program. This latter process is administration. Anyone who is responsible for directing the work of others thereby becomes an administrator.

An adequate theory of society must obviously be based upon knowledge of administration. The importance of administration is in direct ratio to the complexity of inter-personal relationships and the number and utility of shared services. The more things that done for the individual, the greater becomes the importance of organization. Many of society's most difficult problems, such as security for the individual and uninterrupted economic progress, boil down largely to matters of proper organization.

Ours have become an "administered" society. In spite, of our wishful thinking to the contrary, complexity demands organization (Stillman, 2009). With the growth of large business units, our productive life seen as one whose results depend upon proper administration. Whenever social organizations formed, common problems of organization, leadership, control, personnel, finance, and public relations bound to arise. It is no exaggeration to say that in the future the balance of power among social institutions, and the survival value of each will depend upon the relative success which each attains in applying administrative principles to the increasing concentration and complexity found in all fields of activity.

Administration is both social engineering and applied psychology. It is the apparatus and mechanics, incentives and human nature. Let no one think it is merely the former. Nowhere is the need for psychology greater than in the organization, direction, and inspiration of men working in large groups. Outstanding managerial results produced by spirit, morale, atmosphere; these, ...