UNIT 1
ADMINISTRATION OR MANAGEMENT?
SECTION A
A.2 Read the text below carefully and decide whether the question in the title
invites the reader to make a choice or to compare the two terms in
order to understand them better.
TEXT A
Administration or Management?
This is a question which still gener- manage are synonyms, in others, they
ates discussions and controversies. In involve difference in meaning.
some contexts, to administer and to When applied to public and private
English for Public Administration
A.3 Vocabulary
A.3.1 Fill in the blanks with suitable words and phrases from the text:
Both public and private organisations are held …1… to their stakeholders.
They use …2… to achieve their goals. In both types of organisation,
administration involves establishing …3… designed …4… policy with …5… .
In …6… systems, objectives are rarely …7… or changed. …8… systems have
clearer …9… and goals, with specific …10… and …11… . In administrative
systems there is limited …12…. An administrator has a role of …13… and
…14… interpretation. A manager is a …15…, looking …16… opportunities,
…17… for resources and …18… initiatives.
to take profit
to achieve responsibility
to make targets
to avoid objectives
to set mistakes
to delegate initiative
to communicate resources
to allocate a policy
to carry out information
a plan
Unit 1 – Administration or Management?
A.3.3 Match up the following words and phrases with the correct
meaning:
Group A – Managers
You are all members of the management of a tax collecting
organisation. You have to think of a managerial plan for the new
semester. On the basis of the text, work out this plan and be
prepared to explain each item from a manager’s point of view.
Role cards:
Managers
Do not forget that:
• administrative policies express objectives in very general terms. You have to make
the two administrators accept your specific objectives and targets;
• efficient use of resources is of primary importance for you. Make a clear
distribution of resources;
• your purpose is to get the work done. Think of opportunities you may have, take
initiative, make the two administrators accept your proposals, give arguments,
fight for your ideas;
• you are a protagonist;
• in the end, you have to come to a plan accepted by both parties.
Administrators
Do not forget that:
• the public's expectations are very important to you;
• you only fix general objectives. Therefore, you do not have to change them.
However, specific targets fixed by managers may be accepted.
• your main interest is to avoid mistakes;
• achieving targets is managers’ business;
• role is very important from your point of view. Define responsibilities clearly, work
out a system of delegating responsibility, make clear hierarchies to ensure control.
Unit 1 – Administration or Management?
SECTION B
B.1 Discussion
Using information from Text A and knowing that both administrative and
management systems are found in the public sector, try to establish
which of the two systems has dominated and why.
B.2 Read Text B and find out how many of your ideas are
confirmed by it.
TEXT B
Although both management and ad- fect on the way in which the Service
ministrative systems are found in the was managed.
public sector, it is the administrative The traditional administrative culture
system that has traditionally domi- is also a consequence of public systems
nated. This is in part because histori- of accountability. Public bodies have
cally the public services emerged as money appropriated by Parliament or
administrative bodies, supporting politi- local authorities for specific purposes
cal policy makers and law makers and annually. They are required to account
ensuring that the law was imple- for the regularity of their expenditures
mented. The civil service is still domi- each year. This invites a cautious atti-
nated by an elite whose perception of tude to the use of funds and close
their role is that of policy advisers to scrutiny over each commitment of re-
ministers and guardians of the public sources. Any decision to change the
interest. Many analysts have confirmed use of funds has traditionally required
that administrators did not see them- to be vired by the finance department.
selves as managers, which had an ef-
English for Public Administration
B.3 Comprehension
abc
SECTION C Language focus