New Public Management

New Public Management is the development of the eighties in the last century. It primarily emerged as a critic of traditional approach of Public Administration which was ‘Weberian’ ‘Bureaucratic’. The guiding philosophy of traditional approach is the management of public interest and the separation of politics from administration.

 

The New Public Management is the latest paradigm in the evolution of Public Administration. It came into existence in1990s.  The book entitled ‘Reinventing Government’ by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler, published in 1992, indicates the birth of the New Public Management.

Origin

The New Public Management has emerged out of the Thatcherism (Britain- the first country which initiated the privatization of public enterprises) and Reagonomics (USA) of the 1980s. It represents a synthesis of the Public Administration and Private Administration.

The New Public Management aims at 3 Es:

Economy: the eradication of waste

Efficiency: the streamlining of services

Effectiveness: the specifications of the objectives.

Basic theme

The emphasis of New Public Management is on –performance appraisal, managerial autonomy, cost cutting, financial incentives, output targets, innovation, responsiveness, competence, accountability, market orientation, quality improvement. Contracting out, flexibility, competition, choice, de-bureaucratisation, decentralization, down-sizing, and  entrepreneurialism.

New Public Management advocates basic change in the role of the state in society and economy. It emphasizes on the vital role of the ‘market’ as against the ‘state’ as the key regulator of the society and economy. It involves a shift from direct provision of services by government to indirect methods like policy-making, facilitating, contracting, providing information and coordinating other actors. The government should change from ‘doer’ of public activities to a ‘distributor’ of public benefits and ‘facilitator’ of change in society and economy.

Features / Principles of New Public Management

1. Catalytic Government: the government should concentrate on accelerating the public sector, private sector and voluntary/ non-governmental sector into action to solve the societal problems. The government should engage itself in steering rather than rowing.
2. Community-owned Government: The government should strengthen and empower the citizens, families, and communities to solve their own problems.
3. Competitive Government: The government should inject competition among different service and goods providers by rewarding efficiency and economy. This increases performance and reduces cost.
4. Mission-driven Government: The government should be driven by its goal and not by its rules and regulations. It involves transforming rule-oriented government into goal-oriented government.
5. Result- oriented Government: The government should find outcome by encouraging target achievement and mission-directed efforts. It should measure the performance of its agencies mainly in terms of outcomes and not inputs.
6. Customer-driven Government: The government should regard the clients as customers. It involves offering the customers choices, surveying their attitudes, making services convenient and allowing them to make suggestions.
7. Enterprising Government: The government should emphasize on earning money rather than spending. It should put its energy into resource mobilization by using fees, savings, enterprise funds and so on.
8. Anticipatory Government: The government should identify and prevent problems rather than cure them after they occur.
9. Decentralized Government: The government should decentralize authority, that is, distribute authority from higher to lower levels.
10. Market- oriented Government: The government should opt for market mechanism rather than bureaucratic mechanism. It should achieve goals not only by control and command but also by restructuring markets. It should leverage change through market forces.

Experiences

1. UK

The concept of citizen charter has been introduced to ensure greater citizens satisfaction.

2. New Zealand

• Public sector corporations are sold to private sector.
• Contracts have been entered between the Chief Executives of the Corporations and Ministries to specify the input and output.
• Autonomy has been granted to public sector organizations.

3. Canada

• Public Service has been more open and visible.
• The link between people and interest group on one hand and government on the other hand is strengthened.
• Powers are delegated to the public organizations and they have been made accountable for results.