Public Administration vs. Public Management: What’s the Difference?

Public management is often mistakenly believed to be the same as public administration. While there is some overlap, the two disciplines actually make use of different sets of professional duties. Public administration focuses on producing public policies and coordinating public programs. Public management is a sub-discipline of public administration that involves conducting managerial activities in public organizations. Master of Public Administration degree programs largely covers both topics, resulting in a mix of skills that are competitively positioned for the job market.

What Is Public Administration?

Public administration is a field of political science that plans, organizes, directs, coordinates, and controls operations at government, public sector, and non-profit organizations. The government grants public administrators the authority to advise policymakers based on observations of constituent populations and society. Every nation employs some form of public administration within its government systems. In the U.S., public administration is practiced at the local, state, national, and international levels, with different policy goals at each level.

Public administrators coordinate with civil servants to write public policy and achieve policy objectives. Professionals in the field also work to develop strong relationships between public and private groups by advocating for consensus and interests through policy. Different groups have competing desires, so it is important that public administrators have the skills to mitigate conflict in policymaking.

What Is Public Management?

Public managers carry out the managerial operations of public organizations. In practice, public management is meant to improve the quality and efficiency of services delivered by public organizations. Managers interpret the public policy to implement public services in ways that are expected to achieve the most desirable outcomes for the interests they serve.

Public managers can operate in two different areas: the internal and external management of public organizations.

• Internally, public managers must understand how to manage risk and change within their respective organizations. This demands that they stay informed of societal conditions that may impact their organizations’ ability to function optimally. By acknowledging those risks, managers can act accordingly, taking preemptive measures to diminish identified risks and prepare their staff to adapt to the instability those adverse conditions may have on the organization.
• Externally, public management entails leading efforts to collaborate with private groups to support the adoption of public policy. In this capacity, public managers work with private citizens and other public organizations to keep public programs running smoothly. To do this, managers perform tasks such as coordinating public human resources to assist with specific projects or helping certain communities secure the necessary financing to implement public programs.

Public Administration vs. Public Management: Similarities

The fields of public administration and public management are both concerned with public policy and how it can be used to improve societal conditions. Both specialties are active in supporting the adoption and implementation of public policy. They also largely use the same essential professional skills, including knowledge of public finance, leadership abilities, interpersonal communication skills, and strategic thinking.

Public Administration vs. Public Management: Differences

The underlying difference between both fields lies in the core definitions of administration and management. Management is concerned with planning and taking action, while administration relates to the application of policies that dictate how management personnel should act.

The rules of public administration are instrumental in the process of developing policy, providing a measure of guidance as to how those policies should be introduced to societies. In contrast, the rules of public management dictate how civil servants should implement those policies. Public management is a hands-on approach that focuses on the daily tasks involved with rolling out policies, whereas public administration prioritizes controlling the hierarchies, rules, and regulations that contribute to instituting the public policy.