Management, management everywhere: whatever happened to governance?

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 606-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Guy Peters
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Insufficient Attention ◽  
New Public ◽  
Management Issues

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationships between governance and a variety of approaches to public administration, especially New Public Management. Design/methodology/approach The study provides a conceptual review of the various approaches to public management and governance. Findings Many approaches to public administration, especially New Public Management, place excessive emphasis on quotidian management issues and insufficient attention to broader issues of governance. Originality/value I liked it.

scholarly journals Accounting and the post-new public management

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 255-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ileana Steccolini
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Societal Relevance ◽  
New Public ◽  
Public Sector Accounting

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect various pathways for public sector accounting and accountability research in a post-new public management (NPM) context. Design/methodology/approach The paper first discusses the relationship between NPM and public sector accounting research. It then explores the possible stimuli that inter-disciplinary accounting scholars may derive from recent public administration studies, public policy and societal trends, highlighting possible ways to extend public sector accounting research and strengthen dialogue with other disciplines. Findings NPM may have represented a golden age, but also a “golden cage,” for the development of public sector accounting research. The paper reflects possible ways out of this golden cage, discussing future avenues for public sector accounting research. In doing so, it highlights the opportunities offered by re-considering the “public” side of accounting research and shifting the attention from the public sector, seen as a context for public sector accounting research, to publicness, as a concept central to such research. Originality/value The paper calls for stronger engagement with contemporary developments in public administration and policy. This could be achieved by looking at how public sector accounting accounts for, but also impacts on, issues of wider societal relevance, such as co-production and hybridization of public services, austerity, crises and wicked problems, the creation and maintenance of public value and democratic participation.

Understanding complexity of administrative reform

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 630-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwangseon Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Administrative Reform ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Values ◽  
New Public ◽  
Functional Nature ◽  
Rational Calculation

Purpose This paper aims to examine the complexity of administrative reform and its implications. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on an extensive review of the literature. Findings The most conspicuous fashion might be new public management (NPM) and its successor, post-NPM. However, recent reforms which involve complexity created the challenge of “rational calculation” in terms of an understanding of administrative reform. The authors observe that the measure of coordination in a response to fragmentation increases complexity and the rationale behind that reform is based on the instrumental rationality. This hinders real meaning of administrative reform, thereby failing to provide lessons for the future administration. Whether market-based reform or neo-Weberian model of reform, the thing should be considered is the condition under which the reform works. Originality/value This paper reaffirms the importance of the political-bureaucratic system which has multi-functional nature and competing institutional values when the different recipes for reform are imported into different context and a compatibility test by leaders.

Reforms and identities

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Glinka ◽  
Przemyslaw G. Hensel
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Data Coding ◽  
New Public

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show how the identities of the employees of Polish public administration are shaped in the process of public system reforms. Design/methodology/approach The findings are based on interviews with 40 employees of the Polish public administration. The authors have used open interviews as well as projective methods to discover and explore beliefs and attitudes of bureaucrats towards their work and the system of public administration. The selected sample was diversified both spatially and systematically to reflect the diversity of organisations that constitute the Polish public administration system. Grounded theory was used for data coding and interpretation. Findings The study indicates that organisational change initiatives designed to enhance the quality and efficiency of public administration may have negative impacts on the identities of public servants and may lead to their increased incapacity. Rather than sparking entrepreneurial behaviours and transforming bureaucrats into managers, introduction of the rhetoric of New Public Management and New Public Governance in the Polish public administration has contributed to strengthening of classical dysfunctions of bureaucracy. Research limitations/implications The results imply that the understanding of organisational changes in the Eastern European public sector – which are usually studied through the lenses of regulation and economy – would benefit from more sociologically and historically oriented studies. The limitations of our results are associated with the adopted qualitative subjective methodology. Practical implications Foreign-born templates of reforms may appear to be logical and coherent but they rest on certain assumptions about identities and value structures that are not necessarily congruent with the identities at the adoption site. For that reason, successful reform projects need to consider and problematise the content and shape of culturally conditioned identities. Social implications Understanding of public sector reforms’ implication should lead to the improvement of change programmes as well as to the evolution of public administration towards a form more desired by the society. It is especially important as Polish society considers public administration as one of factors influencing (in a negative way) the quality of life. Originality/value The paper provides insight into public administration reforms in Poland and their impact on public servants’ identities.

The response to Covid-19 in England: political accountability and loss of trust

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-532
Author(s):  
Jane Broadbent
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Political Accountability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Turn On ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Uk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the nature of some elements of the UK Government’s response to COVID-19 in England. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a reflective commentary based on a conceptual framing that reflects in turn on the use of performance measures in the building of trust and the author’s experience as a citizen. Findings The English Government approach to controlling the progress of COVID-19 has been characterised by long-standing tenets of New Public Management that have undermined rather than created trust in their actions. Originality/value Originality can be found in the application of existing understandings to the novel situation of seeking to control the COVID-19 pandemic in England.

Public management: 30 years on

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 547-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
New Public ◽  
Starting Point

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct a conceptual survey of transformation in the management of the public sector over the past 30 years. Design/methodology/approach The paper provides a comparison of the bureaucratic form of public administration with more flexible forms of public management. Findings The major change from an administrative model is that public managers are personally responsible for the delivery of results; from that starting point different countries have implemented reforms in their own way. The 30-year timeframe points to the need to reconceptualize ideas of New Public Management (NPM) argued here to have been unhelpful for understanding public management. Originality/value The importance of NPM has been exaggerated previously. The argument here is that public management includes an enduring set of reforms, NPM does not.

The provenance of public management and its future: is public management here to stay?

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 532-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirit Kisner ◽  
Eran Vigoda-Gadot
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
New Public ◽  
To Come

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the views of authors in regard to the provenance and future of PM and the advantages of using management science in administrative science. The authors point to the meaning of both sciences for government studies and to the use that both theoreticians and practitioners may gain from adequately balancing the disciplines for the public interest. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a wide literature review of empirical and epistemological studies on new public management (NPM) and its evolvement across continents and cultures, and on a critical analysis of lessons learned from implementations of ideas and practices. Findings The authors identify the managerial reform in public administration as one of the more influential reforms of modern nations that cut across multiple policy areas, public agencies and cultures. The authors expect that public managers in the years to come are about to play a decisive role and be required to build collaborative capacity while governing creatively but without bending the rules. Ingenious civil servants are going to carry weight and devise new mechanisms for coping with prospective challenges; no doubt they will have to be savvier, more adept and open-minded than ever to be able to step up to the plate and assist governments to deal with impending crises. Originality/value The originality of this essay is reflected in the wide coverage of transitions in the managerial language of the discipline. Using manifold examples from different perspectives on NPM provides a unique and balanced look into what became the most influential reforms in public administration since the second half of the twentieth century, and is still alive and kicking.

Strategic management in Swedish municipal housing

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Lindbergh ◽  
Timothy L. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Early Date ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Municipal Housing ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – Present directives in municipal housing have been imposed by the Public Municipal Housing Companies Act, put into force on January 2011 in Sweden. The Act, states that public municipal housing companies (PMHCs) should run their operation on “businesslike principles,” e.g., commensurate with new public management. The purpose of this paper is to determine if forthcoming practices are apparent in the owner directives that govern operations of these companies. Design/methodology/approach – The research is both exploratory and qualitative in nature and utilizes in-depth case studies of 20 selected PMHCs. Observations for 2013 were compared with similar documents collected ten years prior (2004) using commercially available NVivo software to qualitatively analyze information. Findings – Results suggest that statistically significant changes in directives have occurred and adaptation to the new Act may already have started to take place at this relatively early date. Practical implications – Insofar as Sweden might be a model for other countries interested in extending their efforts in managing public housing, observations here provide some insights into possible results. Originality/value – This is the first attempt to determine the impact that complying with “businesslike principles” has on operations in Swedish housing, which tends to be a model of effectiveness in the global housing sector.

scholarly journals New public management and budgeting practices in Tanzanian Central Government

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 340-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Goddard ◽  
Tausi Ally Mkasiwa
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Donor Funding ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Inductive Research ◽  
New Public ◽  
Research Findings

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the budgeting practices in the Tanzanian Central Government. New budgeting reforms were introduced following exhortations from the bodies such as the UN, the World Bank and the IMF and reflect the new public management (NPM). Design/methodology/approach A grounded theory methodology was used. This methodology is inductive, allowing phenomena to emerge from the participants rather than from prior theory. This ensures both relevance and depth of understanding. Findings The principal research findings from the data concern the central phenomenon of “struggling for conformance”. Tanzanian Central Government adopted innovations in order to ensure donor funding by demonstrating its ability to implement imposed budgetary changes. Organizational actors were committed to these reforms through necessity and struggled to implement them, rather than more overtly resisting them. Research limitations/implications The research is subject to the usual limitations of case study, inductive research. Practical implications This research has several implications for policy-makers of NPM and budgetary reforms. These include the recognition that the establishment of the rules and regulations alone is not adequate for the successful implementation of budgetary and NPM reforms and should involve a comprehensive view of the nature of the internal and external environment. Originality/value There are few empirical papers of NPM accounting practices being implemented in the public sector of developing countries and none at all based in Tanzania. The paper identifies the existence of struggling to conform to reforms rather than resistance identified in prior research.

The Moderating Role of Stakeholder Involvement in the Relationship Between Strategic Planning And Service Delivery

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 2451-2464
Author(s):  
Bahati Keranga ◽  
Martin Ogutu ◽  
Zachary Awino ◽  
Winnie Njeru
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Stakeholder Involvement ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Relationship

In keeping with the New Public Management dispensation, state corporations in Kenya have taken up strategic planning with a view to effect reforms for improved service delivery. New Public Management particularly advances a customer-centric approach to public administration for improved service delivery, with the public, who are the recipients of public service, as key stakeholders in public administration. Despite this, service delivery in the Agribusiness sub-sector in the country is riddled with inadequacies highlighted by among other complaints, unpaid produce supplies, dwindling finances, slumped agricultural extension services and low produce prices. Against this backdrop, the study set out to establish the effect of strategic planning on service delivery and assess how stakeholder involvement influences the relationship between strategic planning and service delivery among agribusiness state corporations in Kenya. Grounded on the New Public Management and Stakeholder theories, the study adopted the positivism paradigm and the descriptive cross-sectional research design. Targeting 73 state corporations pertinent to agribusiness in the country, primary data was collected by use of a structured questionnaire with institutional heads as the units of observation. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were then employed in data analysis. It was established that strategic planning has a significant positive influence on service delivery. Stakeholder involvement was however found to not have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between strategic planning and service delivery. This was attributed to the technocratic approach in the formulation of the strategic plans among state corporations and the numerically limited nature of most stakeholders in state corporations represented in the boards of directors. Following a significant direct effect of stakeholder involvement on service delivery among Agribusiness state corporations in the country, state corporations are implored to involve stakeholders in strategic planning and observe meaningful participation, communication and dispute resolution in the engagement.

CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. CASE STUDY IN ROMANIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 14(63) (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Maria Popescu ◽  
Lidia Mândru
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
Management Perspective

"The paper addresses to the Public Administration (PA) from the management perspective. The first part of the study defines the conceptual framework of the two management doctrines, generically called the New Public Management and New Public Government. The second part of the paper reviews the transformation movement in PA management and governance in Romania in the last two decades. The methodology of the study consists in the analysis of the recent theoretic studies on PA modern approach, and official documents, national and European reports, and other publications related to the PA reform in Romania. "

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