Administrative Objectives for Development Administration.

Administrative practices and principles of the West have derived from preoccupation with control and therefore have little value for development administration in underdeveloped countries where the need is for an adaptive administration, one that can incorporate constant change. However, adaptive administrative principles can be derived from the researches and theories of the behavioral sciences, and these should become the administrative objectives of development administrators. Illustrative of such objectives are the following: an innovative atmosphere; the operationalizing and sharing of goals; the combining of planning (thinking) and acting (doing); the minimization of parochialism; the diffusion of influence; the increasing of toleration of interdependence; and the avoidance of bureaupathology. These propositions are illustrated by the analysis of some concrete administrative problems, such as the centralization-decentralization issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]