An administrative system is called integrated in which all the executive authority is conferred by law or constitution on one single person who thereupon becomes the chief executive authority. Opposite of it is a disintegrated system where authority is distributed by statute or constitution among a number of coeval bodies or agencies or persons. Closely allied to this concept is the idea of area administration versus functional administration. In the former system there obtains at any given level of administration an authority superior to all others with the power to coordinate their activities and resolve contradictions and conflicts. A good example of area administration in which all departmental authorities at the district level have coeval status and run along parallel lines resulting in a disintegrated and uncoordinated administrative system.
India offers a good example of integrated administrative system. All the executive authority of the union government is vested by law in the president. Each department of government is under the charge of a secretary and each ministry has at its head a minister and above minister is the cabinet and the prime minister. In practice, however the system is not well integrated. The constitution itself has provided for authorities or agencies, which are independent of executive control, for example. Union public service commission, Comptroller and Auditor General and Election Commission. In addition, there exist a number of autonomous commissions and boards, public enterprise and corporations which fall outside the regular administrative organization.
The United State of America, on the other hand, offers a good example of disintegrated administrative system. This country has, with its federal form of government set-up a strong deep-rooted tradition of local self government, basing its government on the twin principle of Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances, having a system of directly elected officers, combined with a host of uncoordinated departments, commissions, bureau, boards and other agencies.
The lack of unity is visible even in the national administrative headquarters. It is true that the constitution has attempted to bring about administrative unity by vesting the entire executive authority in the president but it has done very little to help the president evolved a unified administrative structure.
