Structure:

Introduction:  Definition of public and Private administration.

 Body:   List of the points how Public Administration and private administration are common with few current examples.

             List out the points how Public Administration and private administration are different with few current examples.

 Conclusion:  Balance both the similarities and differences between the public and private Administration and conclude how both are responsible in making the administration of a country efficient.

Note: You can write similarities as well as differences if it is asking to Compare and Contrast.

Supporting points:

Public administration refers to orderly managing the resources, to achieve the purposes established by the government.

Private administration is the operation, management and organization of the affairs of the business enterprise.

Analysis of points of similarity between two:

• Thinkers : Some thinkers like Max Weber, Henri Fayol, Mary P Follet and L Urwick argue that all administration is one and exhibits the same fundamental characteristics.
• Techniques : Both public and business administration rely on common techniques relating to planning, organization, budgeting, delegation, control and the like. Both make use of common skills such as accounts keeping, maintaining files etc.
  • Eg: Auditing in private companies.
• Profit Motive : In modern times the principle of profit motive is not particular to private administration. profit making is now acceptable as a laudable objectives for public sector industries too. Further, the business organization have also developed the sense of community service. They have also come to realize that they too have wider responsibilities in society.
  • Eg: Contributions made by many private companies in covid 19 pandemic recently as part of there social contributions, CSR Funds.
• Personnel Management : In personnel management the private organizations have been influenced greatly by the practices of public organization. In recent years public organizations have also attempted to adopt private business method and practices.
  • Eg: the public corporations created to run the government owned economic and commercial activities are largely modeled on private business concerns. They resemble the private companies in nature. ( Strategic disinvestments)
• Government control: In modern times private business concerns are also subjected to many legal constraints as public institutions are concerned. Government is exercising much control over business firms through taxation, monitory and licensing policies. Consequently, they are not as free as they once used to be.
  • Eg: labour law liberalization and A Planning Commission committee onreforms on Central public sector units had in 2012 proposed the creation of a sovereign fund to hold all government shareholdings, both in PSUs and stakes in private companies.
• Sphere of Existence : Social sector improvement like health, education, poverty is now not sole responsibility of Public administration. Both public and Private Institutions have equal footing and contribute in their own way.
  • Eg: Corporate social Responsibility Fund, Existence many Private charitable Trusts.

But both should be recognised that the environment in which both public and private administration functions make them off from each other:

1. Public administration functions strictly in accordance with legal safeguards and in a manner calculated to sustain the confidence and trust of general public. Hence government official has much more responsibility than his private counterpart
2. Public administration is characterized by the absence of profit motive. On the other hand the profit motive not philanthropy is the driving force of private administration. For example subsidies pensions and all the social welfare schemes  which target the  lowest stratum of society is the sole responsibility of the government.
3. The task and operations of public administration are usually of more pressing nature than those of private administration like police and fire protection, public works ,education, recreation, sanitation, social security, Agricultural Research and National Defence etc.
4. Public administration observes the principle of consistency of treatment. For example positive discrimination which is mentioned in constitution.
5. Public administration is subject to external financial control but the private administration involves the financial control by a private members which can lead to economic instability in the country for example Problems associated with Fugitive economic offenders(  Kingfisher Airlines)  and scams related with Punjab National Bank.
6. Activities of public administration are monopolistic in nature with absence of competition but there is a huge competition among the private players.  For example multi brand retail companies.
7. The public administrator carry perhaps the greater social Prestige and is more accountable and responsible to the government compared to his private counterpart.

            In spite of all the differences, mentioned it may be made clear that there is much common between the public and private administration and that the difference between the two is only of degree and not kind.  Particularly we can see that the difference between the public and private Administration is getting blurred under privatisation liberalisation and globalisation. In Modern Times both Public Administration and Private administration have equal responsibility in  increasing the standard of life of the people.