Turning New Public Management theory into reality: Performative struggle during a large scale planning process

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 1264-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sander Merkus ◽  
Marcel Veenswijk

Within the literature of governance and policy making in the context of planning, the notion of performativity is specifically conceptualized as the self-fulfilling property of performances – such as story-telling – that shape public reality. One specific stream of performativity researchers – dominant in the realm of organization studies – focuses on the enactment of academic theory into reality. We contribute to this idea of bringing theory into being by conceptualizing purposive performative agents who strive to enact a specific theory in reality. Our paper demonstrates through which mechanisms the theory of New Public Management has shaped the reality of public governance at the will of one powerful performative agent. Using a perspective based on performative struggle, our interpretative case study – focused on a large policy process – exhibits how New Public Management doctrine gains influence at the expense of other public management theories. In conclusion, we claim that our findings offer a potential perspective for understanding through which dynamics certain agents aim to shape the public realm in alignment with their preferred theoretical propositions.

Author(s):  
Stavros Zouridis ◽  
Vera Leijtens

Abstract Recently, scholars have claimed that public management theory has too much ignored law. Consequently, the under-legalized conception of public management has produced a flawed understanding of public management theory as well as public management practices, threatening public institutions’ legitimacy. In this article, we argue that law never left public management theory. Rather, the link between government and law has been redefined twice. We refer to the assumptions that constitute this link as the law-government nexus. This nexus changed from lawfulness in a public administration paradigm, to legal instrumentalism in a (new) public management paradigm, and to a networked concept in the public governance (PG) paradigm. In order to prevent a faulty over-legalized conception of public management, bringing the law back in should be built on lessons from the past. This article elaborates on three strategies to reconnect law and public management. We map the strengths and weaknesses of each law-government nexus and illustrate these with the case of the Dutch tax agency. In our strategies that aim to reconceptualize the current law-government nexus, we incorporate the benefits of each paradigm for public management theory. The revised law-governance nexus enables the PG paradigm to correspond to contemporary issues without encountering old pathologies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14(63) (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Maria Popescu ◽  
Lidia Mândru

"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. "


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-43
Author(s):  
László Buics

Public services and logistics are generally treated as different fields, but the tools of logistics management with the help of the Unified Services Theory can be used for the benefit of the public services. The aim of this theoretical paper is to generally introduce my topic and relevance of the research on which my PhD thesis will be based in the future. The expectations in the advanced, globalized world are pushing governments to find new methods to fulfil the needs of the citizens while keeping up or even increase efficiency and effectiveness. I believe that from a certain viewpoint the public administration system can be considered as a large scale supply network, and I am particularly interested in how we could apply logistical methods in public services to increase efficiency and effectiveness while simultaneously increase customer satisfaction. In this particular paper I would like to present how I see the connections between the concept of New Public management and the Unified Services Theory. I would like to show the similarities between them and how they could complete each other in order to serve as a background for later logistics related approaches and researches within the domain of public services.


2011 ◽  
pp. 2159-2167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko

New public management and the more recent concept of new public governance have become the dominant management doctrines in the public sector. Public organizations have become increasingly network-like units with various governance relations with actors from the public, business, and voluntary sectors. Their organization is based more on networks than on traditional hierarchies, accompanied by a transition from the command-and-control type of management to initiate-and-coordinate type of governance.


2022 ◽  
pp. 22-44
Author(s):  
Feras Ali Qawasmeh

Public policy is classified as a major field in public administration. Therefore, to understand the context of public policy as a field, it is essential to explore its root developments in public administration from epistemological and chronological perspectives. This chapter is a review study referring to main scholarly works including books, academic articles, and studies. The chapter first helps researchers and students in comprehending the evolution of public administration in its four main stages including classical public administration, new public administration, new public management, and new public governance. Second, the chapter presents a general overview of the evolution of the public policy field with particular attention paid to the concepts of Harold Lasswell who is seen as the father of public policy. The chapter then discusses different definitions of public policy. Various classifications of public policy are also investigated. The chapter ends with a critical discussion of the stages model (heuristics).


Author(s):  
Andreas Ask ◽  
Mathias Hatakka ◽  
Åke Grönlund

This chapter discusses practices, opportunities, and challenges in local e-government project management by means of a case study involving interviews, document studies, and an element of action research, over eight months. The analysis against e-government success factors finds seven “critical issues”; political timing, resource allocation, political mandate, distinction between administrative and political responsibilities, coordination of departments, dependence on providers, and use of standards. We found these issues open for local choice, influences of strong individuals and groups, and chance. This is a consequence of the prevailing strategic model for the public sector, New Public Management, which leaves these issues to be filled by negotiations among many actors with different roles, goals, and action space. The general lesson is that there is a need for practical ways of acting strategically to reduce the risk level and increase the ability to implement policy.


Author(s):  
Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko

New public management and the more recent concept of new public governance have become the dominant management doctrines in the public sector. Public organizations have become increasingly network-like units with various governance relations with actors from the public, business, and voluntary sectors. Their organization is based more on networks than on traditional hierarchies, accompanied by a transition from the command-and-control type of management to initiate-and-coordinate type of governance.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095207672110150
Author(s):  
Mette Sønderskov ◽  
Rolf Rønning ◽  
Siv Magnussen

Innovation has been highlighted as a magic formula that can solve deep-seated, emerging complex social and economic problems in the public service sector. However, public innovation efforts face both drivers and barriers. Innovation depends on context, and currently different competing governance paradigms’ influence has attracted growing academic and political interest regarding the potential of public service innovation. Today, new public governance (NPG) has been suggested as an alternative paradigm to classic public administration (CPA) and new public management (NPM), as the focus of attention has shifted from traditional hierarchical forms of government and market-based competition strategies to interactive- and collaborative-based governance. In this paper, we discuss how elements from different governance paradigms interact, support and undermine one another in terms of innovation in hybrid organisations. Although hybridisation has been described in extant studies on administrative welfare reforms, it barely has been examined in the public innovation literature. This is a theoretical paper based on a scoping review; however, we use the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) as an illustrative case to explain how hybridisation may lead to both stimulations and perversions regarding the development, implementation and spread of public service innovation. Finally, the paper reflects on how public leaders can handle hybridity within their organisational units.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pina Puntillo

The main aim of this paper is to analyze how the yearly budget of public entities may be used as a tool of social accountability. The interest in researching this topic roots in a change in management style, from a bureaucratic kind, based on the formulation of rules and limitations, and on the more formal than substantial control of the civil servants’ compliance with the former, to a “post-bureaucratic” kind of management (Maroy, 2005), essentially founded on the evaluation of how efficiently resources are exploited. In this context, the term “accountability” refers to the set of techniques which may be used to measure and evaluate the results delivered by the administrative bodies, as well as the impacts on the community (Patton, 1992). The process of accountability confers to the subjects in question the legitimization of their own behaviour. After exploring the concept of social accountability, the paper will focus on the aspects of the public budget which make it a suitable tool of social accountability, showing how the shift from the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm to the Public Governance paradigm has strengthened and more clearly defined said role.


Author(s):  
Andreas Ask ◽  
Mathias Hatakka ◽  
Åke Grönlund

This article discusses practices, opportunities, and challenges in local e-government project management by means of a case study involving interviews, document studies, and an element of action research, over eight months. The analysis against e-government success factors finds seven “critical issues”; political timing, resource allocation, political mandate, distinction between administrative and political responsibilities, coordination of departments, dependence on providers, and use of standards. We found these issues open for local choice, influences of strong individuals and groups, and chance. This is a consequence of the prevailing strategic model for the public sector, New Public Management, which leaves these issues to be filled by negotiations among many actors with different roles, goals, and action space. The general lesson is that there is a need for practical ways of acting strategically to reduce the risk level and increase the ability to implement policy.


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