Public and private values at odds: can private sector values be transplanted into public sector institutions?

Abstract

In the last few years, it has become widely accepted that the answer to many of the shortcomings of public sector administration lie in the wholesale adoption of private sector values like ‘risk-taking’, ‘customer focus’, and ‘bottom-line orientation’. This prescription seems self-evident to many business executives, and even has some appeal among public sector managers. However, it is based on a false premise: that the relationship of the state to citizens is, or should be, basically similar to that existing between private enterprise and its clients. Public administration is about choices. It necessarily means satisfying some citizens while frustrating others. If carried to its logical conclusion, the process of privatizing public sector values would make state bodies more responsive to their direct customers while stripping them of their public legitimacy. The challenge for public sector administrators is to find ways to integrate appropriate private sector values into their organizations while safeguarding their overall role as guardian of the public interest. (© 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)