Section A
Public Administration
Public administration includes anything that involves the general public from social workers, police, public schools, and healthcare providers to firefighters to rescuers that are all accessible to the public. It is significant for a country because it provides an essential framework of government to the public in order to ensure every citizen has equal access to essential governmental resources (Frederickson, 2015). Thus, the term “public administration” refers to the implementation of government policies to organize various operations managed by the government to maintain the legal infrastructure of the country as well as for obtaining economic growth. In the United States, the purpose and function of public administration are to stabilize the organized data that is accommodated to all the citizens including the general public, government employees, officials, managers, advisors, and civil service employees. American constitutional principles regarding public administration reflect constitutionalism, policy, federalism, republican form of government, partisan, legalism, and system politics. The philosophy of American government is interpreted through democratic means but the shape of the American government is completely republican which means that every state, county, and city in the country has a leading person that holds the administration and power of the state in their hands (Milakovich & Gordon, 2013).
Section B
Public and Business Administration
The biggest single difference between public and business administration is that public administration relates to the public whereas the latter is concerned with the private sector only. As the names imply, business administration embarks on economic objectives to make a profit whereas public administration embarks on the socio-political objective for the people by the people and is not interested in economic objectives as profit is not a motive (Marume et al., 2016). The former involves the administering of a business with the goal of making a profit and focuses on decisions that contribute to the realization of this goal, profit-making. On the other hand, the latter involves administering services for all the citizens of a community. For instance, in the United States, public administration would infer services supporting the wants of the community along with lifestyle needs that are financed through taxation in the country (Frederickson, 2015). However, business administration would be carried out by the administrator of any business in the corporate world who works for remuneration in a profit-making organization. For example, this would be applicable in hospitals, military clubs, etc. for the formulation of policies to put profit-making plans into action.
One of the similarities both administrative framework shares is that they are concerned with regulations as well as compliance through regulatory protections and restrictions enforced by the government. On the contrary, the divergence or differences come from the goals both administrative frameworks strive to reach. Business administration aims to serve the corporate goals of a business entity for increasing revenues and shareholder value and public administration aims to build up the service for social well-being and balance among every citizen of the community (Marume et al., 2016). Moreover, both frameworks are engaged in managing and leading organizational entities such as focusing on operational optimization, strategic planning, budgeting, resource allocation, and leadership (McCurdy, 1978). In the nutshell, the primary difference is business administration focuses on private and commercial enterprises whereas public administration emphasizes its focus on governmental entities and non-profit organizations.
Section C
Occupations in Public Administration
Public administration offers different fields of practice or occupations to public servants. In the United States, the role of a public administrator is to oversee the efficient implementation of governmental policies and plans. The public administrator promotes the welfare of society through government spending with a plethora of ethical quandaries which would have to be analyzed, confronted, and decided upon so that the person can choose valid obligations (Goodsell, 2006). Some of the occupations from different walks of governmental entities are as follows:
Local Government
One good example from the local American government’s occupation in public administration is Border Control to monitor and secure the northern and southern borders of the United States for a “lookout” purpose to stop people who seek to enter America through illegal means. Border Control agents act as the representative of the United States and are forced to perform their ethical obligation as a citizen of the country. In Mexico, the situation is driven by the drug wars, political corruption, and high employment rates that make thousands of innocent Americans killed every single year during the crossfire between the Mexican government and rival cartels.
Federal Government
Public Administration Consultant is a fine example of public administration occupation that analyzes the operations of the public as well as private sector entities. The consultant in the federal government organization of the United States can make recommendations for the businesses on how they can achieve their objectives and thrive in the ever-emerging market in the local as well as international domains. A public administration consultant may also work on helping governmental as well as non-governmental organizations meet their goals by assisting the organization in developing policies and fundraising.
Non-Profit Administration
Being a Charity Manager in a non-profit administration is an occupation that allows a person to administer how funds can be used in various programs in different organizations. The key responsibilities of a Charity Manager in the United States include recruiting and training volunteers to raise the funds for charity, management of fundraising efforts, and educating the public about the importance of fundraising and how to use the charity effectively.
Section D
My Career Goals
Deciding on a career course is never an easy task as it requires a person’s choice based on his aspirations and public administration provides a lot of significant opportunities to become a leader and a person who holds and manages things for the welfare of society through government spending. I have known for a long time that I would love to have a career in public administration so I started working with students in an increasingly responsible and prospective position. This enabled me to utilize my talent and abilities in solving crucial problems by creating strategic solutions in order to contribute to public service as my objective is to gain insight into the field of public administration through practical experience with real-life applications. Another aim for which I have gotten into the field of Public Administration is the continuous desire to improve the overall policies for an ideal American government. I believe every city in the United States has its own unique problems, concerns, and struggles which can be solved through innovative leadership and teamwork. This is what public administration is all about and I have a firm belief that I could be part of a solution-driven administration in any county, city, or state of America.
References
Frederickson, H. G. (2015). Public administration and social equity. In Public administration and law (pp. 209–222). Routledge.
Goodsell, C. T. (2006). A new vision for public administration. Public Administration Review, 66(4), 623–635.
Marume, S. B. M., Jubenkanda, R. R., & Namusi, C. W. (2016). Similarities and differences between public administration and business administration.
McCurdy, H. E. (1978). Selecting and training public managers: Business skills versus public administration. Public Administration Review, 38(6), 571–578.
Milakovich, M. E., & Gordon, G. J. (2013). Public administration in America. Cengage Learning.
