Development is a complex term that means improvement, growth, or progress. When public administration studies ‘government in action for development’ it becomes development administration. According to Edward Weidner,” development administration is “the process of guiding an organisation toward the achievement of progressive political, economic and social objectives that are authoritatively determined in one manner or the other”. An approach to have innovative planning towards growth is called development administration. The need for this was felt due to limitations in the traditional approach to public administration, which covered areas such as
Organization of the government machinery
management of different tasks like leadership, planning, etc
personnel administration i.e., recruitment, training of personnel financial administration e.g., budget, audit, etc
administrative law e.g., tribunals for dispute resolution.
The new approach to public administration and public policy focuses on socio-economic development, political modernization, and adaptation of new technologies in administration.
Development administration has two important aspects viz.
Administration of development – setting development goals and achieving them through the medium of administration.
Development of administration – the existing system has to be improved so as the achieve the goals.