NASPAA`s key pillars of public Administration

NASPAA`s key pillars of public Administration
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Date:
The National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) argue that people can achieve equity for social equity by using the four pillars used in public administration. It points out that equity should be put at the same level of consideration as the other pillars, efficiency, economy and effectiveness when establishing and implementing public policies.
Under public administration, the economy is arguably the most scrutinized pillar among the four pillars of public administration. During the discussion on the public expenditure in the public budget, it is expected that the public service sector will be provided in the most economical way. Economy has been described as the management of the scarce resources and particularly with expending the little resources at an agreed level of public service. In public administration, economy usually involves getting better or lower bids on contracts for some agreed-upon services, outsourcing of public services, finding out ways of working with fewer resources and using network governance that will be used in partnering with other sectors so as to provide public service. Economy is seen as an objective concept, and the good management of the public funds is a long-held principle. One can measure the strength of an economy by calculating the savings, evaluating the expenditures of the funds, and monitoring the inputs that are entered into a given program as compared to the level of service that have been agreed upon.

It is arguable that the economy of a given place is most often considered in the short term when one focuses on the immediate cost savings for service provision. However, when public administrators are given sufficient short-term resource, they tend to sacrifice economy to gain effectiveness and efficiency while economy is achieved in the long term
Efficiency is also a key pillar of public administration. Under public administration, efficiency is described as achieving high preferable public service by using the available resources. In the public service, efficiency is considered regarding the process efficiencies that can be measured regarding short lines at the government offices, short turn-around period on applications and faster response to emergency situations. However, these services should be provided at minimum costs and by the help of a balanced distribution of the available resources. Practices such as customer satisfaction surveys, LEAN process, balanced scorecards and process and output evaluations in the measurement of the efficiency in service provision.
Effectiveness as a pillar of public administration becomes more prominent as the accountability calls increase. While the public administrator may work efficiently and economically, it is also very important for the administrator to perform the given duties effectively. The NASPAA points out that this pillar is always determined by an increase in the rate of employment, low levels of insecurity, reduction in the welfare roles and better infrastructure. This pillar is considered in the short run when renewing the budget. The tools used in tracking the effectiveness of a task include the client follow-up, bench marking, program evaluations and report cards. Some of the outcomes are usually less tangible and thus making it harder to measure.
Social Equity was added to the pillars of public administration with an argument that it is not sufficient to have an efficient and economical service if the public administrator does not consider the person being served. As the pillars of efficiency, economy and effectiveness indicate how a government operates, equity tries to delve on the individuals that the government works for. According to the NASPAA, social equity is described as the fair, just and equitable leadership of all the institutions that are serving the public directly and the equitable distribution of public services and implementation of public policy. However, this combination of the highly normative concepts of fair, just, equitable and equity along with a lack o clear and applied definition about social equity constantly exacerbates the struggle in raising the status of equity in the public administration pillars.