Question

What does the acronym POSDCORB stand for in Gulick's elements of administration?

• A. Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, Budgeting
• B. Predicting, Overseeing, Supervising, Delegating, Controlling, Reviewing, Balancing
• C. Preparing, Operating, Structuring, Directing, Coordinating, Regulating, Budgeting
• D. Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Delegating, Commanding, Reporting, Budgeting

Answer 1

Answer:

A. Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, Budgeting

POSDCORB - Elements of Administration

• POSDCORB is an acronym that represents a set of core principles in public administration, as conceptualized by Luther Gulick.
• It breaks down the administrative process into seven key functions:
  • Planning: Devising the work to be done.
  • Organizing: Establishing the formal structure of authority through which the work is coordinated.
  • Staffing: The personnel function of recruitment, training, and personnel relations.
  • Directing: The continuous activity of making decisions and embodying them in general and specific executive orders and instructions.
  • Coordinating: The all-important interrelationship of the parts of the organization.
  • Reporting: Keeping those to whom the executive is responsible informed as to what is going on.
  • Budgeting: The fiscal element of the administrative work.
• Gulick, along with William F. Willoughby, published 'Papers on the Science of Administration' in 1937, which introduced these concepts.
• POSDCORB has been influential in the study and practice of public administration, providing a framework for understanding and managing organizations.
• While POSDCORB is a foundational concept, modern public administration theory has expanded upon and sometimes critiqued these principles.