New Public Management Paradigm Research Articles

Financial and Economic Tools of Project Management in Public Sector

"The article examines the introduction of project management as a result of the implementation of administrative reforms in modern states based on the management paradigm of New Public Management and New Public Governance. Based on both experts’ opinions and a number of cases from different counties, it is shown that the development of such elements of new public management as focus on achieving results, monitoring of quantitative and qualitative performance indicators, budget savings, creative organizational culture, became possible thanks to a set of economic and strategic tools that characterize project management, especially PMBoK. The expediency of a large-scale transition to professional management of public projects through the use of the generally recognized PMBoK standard, as well as the “living” Agile project methodology, is substantiated."

STAFFING OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION BODIES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL SOCIETY

The article demonstrates the essence of public administration staffing, indicates its role and necessity in modern realities. The priority tasks of personnel policy in the context of the digital transformation of society, and its continuous dynamics, are given. The issues of competence of civil servants of the digital era are considered. The problem of reducing the attractiveness of employment in the bodies of public management in the eyes of a new generation of labor market participants, as well as the challenge of quit rate increase, is analyzed. Within the paradigm of New Public Management, based on the latest trends in human resource management – Agile approach and Talent Marketplaces – the necessity of transforming employee value proposition in the public sector is outlined.

СОВРЕМЕННЫЙ ДИСКУРС ГРАЖДАНСКОЙ СЛУЖБЫ РОССИИ: ВЗГЛЯД СКВОЗЬ ПРИЗМУ АДМИНИСТРАТИВНЫХ ПАРАДИГМ

In this article we examine the features of the current stage of Russian civil service development through the prism of the basic administrative paradigms – Weberian rational bureaucracy, New Public Management (NPM) and Good Governance; and we identify the prevailing paradigms in scientific discourse, electoral political discourse and modern legal discourse. We use such research methods as follows: content analysis, thesaurus analysis, bibliometric analysis of publications, comparative legal analysis. We propose some criteria for identifying administrative paradigms using a set of thesaurus words, as well as methodological tools for comparing with paradigms: a) scientific articles on state bureaucracy, b) election programs of Russian political parties in terms of reforming the civil service, c) regulatory documents containing the goals of the current stage of the Russian civil service development. As a result of the study, we have found that the Weberian paradigm dominates in scientific publications on law, NPM paradigm – on management and economics, Good Governance paradigm – on sociology and political science, which indicates the multiparadigmality of modern research. During the 2016 and 2021 parliamentary election campaigns, political parties of the entire ideological spectrum worked out a request for social justice, which was due to the predominance of theses in their programs corresponding to Good Governance. Regulation of the Russian civil service development in the period is carried out at the intersection of managerial and Weberian models. The first is manifested in the rigid formalization of the civil servants’ activities, and the second – in attempts to make the bureaucracy efficient, compact and complaisant. The preservation of the civil service’ closeness is confirmed by a decrease in the share of program measures equivalent to Good Governance, which contradicts the attitude towards openness and justice, fixed in scientific and political discourse.

The Challenges of Hospitals' Planning & Control Systems: The Path toward Public Value Management.

In the last decades, public management has been subjected to a shift from the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm to the Public Value Management (PVM) one. Thus, management practices such as Planning and Control (P&C) systems have been called to evolve accordingly. The health care sector has not escaped this process. This paper focuses on the evolution of hospitals’ P&C systems to support the paradigm shift from the NPM paradigm to the PVM one. In particular, the paper aims at exploring whether hospitals’ P&C systems in Italy evolved, or are evolving, consistently with PVM and what are the expected benefits related to such a paradigm switch. To address the research aim, the paper is based on a review of scientific and grey literature and the case study of the diabetic-foot pathway in an Italian Regional Healthcare System. The results of this study show that the current P&C systems in Italian hospitals are not yet designed to support the shift toward the PVM approach and are still mainly focused on financial aspects and intra-organizational dynamics. Combining traditional P&Cs with performance measures assessing the system’s outcomes may support hospitals in aligning their goals with the health system they are operating within and, therefore, P&C systems may represent an important driving force toward change. Such results provide suggestions for both practitioners and academics on how to adapt P&C systems to better support the implementation of current strategies of the public sector.

Childcare in uncaring times: emotional processes in a nursery and their political context

This article reports on a study that uses the method of infant observation to investigate emotional processes among young children and their professional carers in a nursery for 0- to three-year-olds. The article focuses on the effects of political regulations and reforms in the area of public daycare, which have a deep impact on the emotional lives of both children and their carers. First, a dominant political and regulatory language, in which learning is the dominant concept, plays the role of making the basic emotional needs of both children and carers invisible. In this way, some of the most obvious questions and concerns about young children and their care needs are rendered collectively unconscious. Second, decades of spending reductions (‘effectivisation’) in the field of public daycare have put an increased pressure on both carers and children, who are forced to try to have their fundamental needs met in a situation of an historically high rate of children per staff member. Third, the article points to the effects of a culture of quality control through evaluation and assessment, which the paradigm of New Public Management has promoted in the field of daycare. This culture enhances persecutory anxieties among the staff, which run counter to the containment and care that they need in order to care well for the children. Finally, it is argued that the field of public daycare should be informed by a paradigm that is oriented towards the care needs of both children and their professional carers.

Questions to the structure and culture of the new paradigm of management of new public management

This paper aims to critically analyze the structure and the new culture of public administration paradigm named as the new administration or public management of public organizations. The main challenge is to try to explain why the dysfunctional management practices in the structure and the new culture of public organizations that are copied from focusing on administrative processes management practices of private organizations model. In doing so, it has been reviewed the literature in general from the perspective of neo-institutionalism on this subject and by using the method of critical analysis of organizations. More than dysfunctions, in this work the main challenges and worries to the implementation of the paradigm of management or governance are identified. Despite the theoretical -methodological nuances of the new institutional economy and its implications for economic theory, it is inadequate to describe only subtly strategies of the private management. This paper presents an original approach to the critical analysis of new public management. The revision of the paradigm of new public management is carried out essentially in the methodological steps needed to question and identify the action of the state in the administration of organizations and public agencies, by applying the specific management practices, based on the theoretical and methodological framework of the new institutionalism critical criteria.

Higher education for public value: taking the debate beyond New Public Management

ABSTRACTMany higher education (HE) system reforms in the past decades have been built on the paradigm of New Public Management (NPM). However, these reforms have not allowed HE to fully take its value for society into account. In recent years a growing call can be heard to orient the HE sector towards more collaboration, a focus on a larger set of socio-economic objectives instead of on performance alone, less pressure, more trust and legitimacy. In this article, it is stated that NPM has not sufficiently enabled the creation of public value (PV) by the HE sector. This article provides (1) insight into the flaws of NPM, (2) an understanding of PV for HE and (3) a new model to study HE reforms built on the concept of PV.

Benchmarking and Learning in Public Healthcare: Properties and Effects

This research investigates the effects of learning‐oriented benchmarking in public healthcare settings. Benchmarking is a widely adopted yet little explored accounting practice that is part of the paradigm of New Public Management. Extant studies are directed towards mandated coercive benchmarking applications. The present study analyses voluntary benchmarking in a public setting that is oriented towards learning. The study contributes by showing how benchmarking can be mobilised for learning and offers evidence of the effects of such benchmarking for performance outcomes. It concludes that benchmarking can enable learning in public settings but that this requires actors to invest in ensuring that benchmark data are directed towards improvement.

ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGE IN THE EU: A CROSS‐COUNTRY EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE CONTEXTUAL DETERMINANTS OF NPM REFORM RHETORIC

ABSTRACTFramed within the paradigm of New Public Management (NPM), structural reforms in the EU aimed at modernizing the public administrations of Member States (MSs) have long since been a priority area of the EU's economic policy. Since the 1990s, these reforms have been sharply intensified across European countries with the declared purpose of enhancing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in their national public sectors’ organizations. In line with the European Commission's recent research initiatives in search for novel quantitative data on NPM in the EU, this paper studies European parties’ NPM reform rhetoric. More specifically, it investigates the MSs’ institutional, economic and political context within which parties have declared their intention of reforming national administrative systems. Thus, it sheds light on the MSs’ domestic factors that are associated with the diffusion of the NPM values across the political discourse of EU's national parties.

Ilmu Administrasi Dalam Perspektif Good Goverment Dan New Public Management

This paper reviews the new perspective of public management and good goverment in the perspective of the administration and explains the differences between the two. New Public Management (NPM) at risk of leaving the service function for the poor and marginal. Therefore the perspective of good goverment improve NPM development movement.
 NPM paradigm without accountabilty would risk leaving the public interest. Accountbility as a basic pilar paradigm and the paradigm of good government can improve the weaknesses found in the paradigm previously thought.
 To implement public accountabilty is the transparency information. Transformation information system is the basic capital that can be used for the perfomance evaluation efforts of the public sector and to evaluate the implementation of public sector accountability for decisions and actions, namely the extent to which outcome and can be caused in the management of public service.

The Reflections of New Public Management on Local Government Laws in Turkey

By the 1980s onwards, the management of public sector has witnessed a significant transformation and a new paradigm came out with the name of the New Public Management (NPM), as a challenge to the classical public administration. At that framework, Turkey has also felt the impact of that new paradigm at the administrative system. The first objective of the article is examining the emergence of NPM at the global planet. In that context, the key themes, initiatives, and principles of NPM have been put forth in detail. The second objective of the article is searching the emergence of the new paradigm of NPM in Turkey. The third objective is examining the general justifications of four Local Government Laws such as Special Provincial Administration Law No. 5302, Municipality Law No. 5393, Metropolitan Municipality Law No. 5216 and lastly, Law No. 6360 on ‘The Establishment of Fourteen Metropolitan Municipalities and Twenty-seven Districts and Amendments at Certain Law and Decree Laws’. The general justifications of those Laws are analysed with the method of content analysis for the evaluation of NPM approach’s key themes, principles, and components at the reference Laws. Lastly, it is seen that most of the principles of NPM are expressed at the general justifications of that related Laws such as decentralization, performance management, flexibility, effectiveness, efficiency, subsidiarity, participation, service quality, competitive and enterprising government, accountability, and transparency. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4p36

Business Process Reengineering in Government Agencies: Lessons from an Experience in Mexico

This paper is based on the findings from two research projects in the Mexican port subsector and shows evidence that business process reengineering is a viable tool for government reform in Latin America. The paper opens with a brief description of New Public Management (NPM), a model used in recent efforts for state reform in the region of Latin America. The modernization of Mexican ports is based on the NPM paradigm. The following section includes a definition of business process reengineering, its methodology and relevance for the public sector. Subsequently, the development of the projects is outlined, including their main objectives and justification, the methodology used, the participating employees, and the results achieved. The findings of these projects are both significant and thought-provoking. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations for the implementation of business process reengineering in the public sector.

Co-creating with the homeless? Postmodern administration and participatory citizenship

Abstract The article is based on the case of a group of homeless people who in the fall of 2013 occupied a central site in the Danish town of Aarhus. The authors argue that this specific case is an ideal object of investigation for casting light on a new situation in the field of public administration. Public administration has recently moved from the paradigm of New Public Management to a new and still undetermined paradigm, which focuses on activating and engaging citizens, treating them as equal partners in the process of co-creating welfare services and the community itself as a brand. Using the case of the homeless, the authors argue that participatory citizenship should not only be viewed as “added value” to the field of public administration, but rather as emerging within a dynamic and conflict-ridden field between citizens and administration where new types of value are potentially created

Efficiency of Coordination of European Policies at Domestic Level – Challenging Polish Coordination System

Coordination is reaching agreements through consistent operation of various parts of the system to achieve a particular purpose. Efficiency is one of the key concepts relating to the coordination of EU policies in the Member States of the EU. Although there are several tools to measure efficiency of coordination on domestic level, such as the scale of Metcalfe and benchmarks of the World Bank, there is no complex set of tools to measure the multifaceted efficiency of coordination. This paper consists of two main parts: 1/ analysis of efficiency of coordination of EU policies in the Polish government institutions using existing methods of evaluating efficiency and analysis of required improvements in the coordination system of Poland, 2/ analysis of possible improvements in measuring efficiency of coordination of EU policies, based on the paradigm of New Public Management and using theories typical for modeling business processes in private companies. The paper bases on qualitative research conducted in Polish ministries involved in domestic coordination. The research results show certain lacks in efficiency of coordination in Poland according to traditional tools of measuring efficiency. At the same time use of these tools does not allow for proper diagnosis and finding solutions to recent problems of coordination. Recommendations give some solutions to challenges of efficient coordination on domestic level using broader set of tools for measuring coordination efficiency.

Critical Challenges in Implementing the Citizen's Charter Initiative: Insights from Selected Local Government Units

Globally recognized as a best practice, the Citizen’s Charters were developed under the paradigm of New Public Management (NPM), which uses business-like perspective and tools by bringing the public as a customer in the center of public service delivery. Building on these successes, the Philippine government launched an Anti-Red Tape program based largely on RA 9485 that mandates the creation of Citizen’s Charters for all frontline services of the government including local governments. This paper evaluates the compliance of selected charters to the provision of the law and reveals that the Citizen’s Charters developed show absence of stakeholder involvement in the its formulation, varying levels of compliance on the required information in the charter, inconsistencies in the information provided, and lack of customization and innovation on the part of the LGUs with respect to content and form of the charter. These findings indicate that the Citizen’s Charter as implemented does not consistently hold the basic principles of NPM and ‘charterism’.

Efficienza amministrativa, beni pubblici e interessi mafiosi

The spread of illegal conduct related to the presence of organised crime in its current forms can be seen as related to weaknesses in the ability to govern some of the changes and innovations that have occurred in the functioning of public administrations in recent years, according to the paradigm of new public management. More specifically, in some cases systematic recourse to outsourcing, justified on the grounds of administrative efficiency, creates genuine wide open doors for the interests of organised crime.

Neo-Liberalism, Privatization and the Outsourcing of Migration Management: A Five-Country Comparison

Current debates in migration studies underestimate or neglect altogether the implications of the privatization of migration management. Outsourcing control and detention functions to private companies is part of the paradigm of new public management. Such outsourcing has created self-reinforcing mechanisms and lock-in effects. However, the extent to which such privatization is embraced varies internationally depending on the degree of neo-liberalization of the state. Empirically, the article therefore analyses developments in countries with divergent levels of privatization of migration management, including the UK, Australia, the USA, Germany and the Netherlands.

The managerial reduction in the management technologies transposition process to public organizations

This essay discusses the phenomenon of the implementation of technologies designed in the management business, with emphasis on relations with public organizations. It proposes a reflection on the concept of sociological reduction by Guerreiro Ramos, recovering its roots in Husserl and Heidegger and their relationship with the concepts of creative adaptation and the translation of managerial issues. Contextualized in the paradigm of new public management and the list of values and assumptions on which this movement is based, the analysis of the reproduction of practices known in private organizations by public ones seeking their legitimacy has revealed the formality and ceremonial aspect of this contemporary phenomenon. The importance of bringing knowledge from the organizational field that subsidizes management as well as the coherence of these cultural objects in terms of concepts and assumptions of organization are highlighted here. The process of transpositions, contrasting with reproducible traits of Brazilian managerial culture that are historically constructed but consistent with the notion of sociological reduction, requires a critical, conscious and engaged attitude on the part of members of the organization not only regarding the relevance of the imported content but also giving new meaning to the concepts underlying the management technologies.

Assessment of management approaches in a public water utility: A case study of the Namibia water corporation (NAMWATER)

More than 90% of urban water supply and sanitation services in developing countries are provided by public organizations. However, public provision of services has been inherently inefficient. As a result a number of initiatives have emerged in recent years with a common goal to improve service delivery. In Namibia, the water sector reform resulted in the creation of a public utility called the Namibia Water Corporation (NAMWATER) which is responsible for bulk water supply countrywide. Since its inception in 1998, NAMWATER has been experiencing poor financial performance. This paper presents the findings of a case study that compared the management approaches of NAMWATER to the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm. The focus of the NPM approach is for the public water sector to mirror private sector methods of management so that public utilities can accrue the benefits of effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility often associated with private sector. The study tools used were a combination of literature review, interviews and questionnaires. It was found out that NAMWATER has a high degree of autonomy in its operations, albeit government approved tariffs and sourcing of external financing. The utility reports to government annually to account for results. The utility embraces a notion of good corporate culture and adheres to sound management practices. NAMWATER demonstrated a strong market-orientation indicated by the outsourcing of non-core functions but benchmarking was poorly done. NAMWATER’s customer-orientation is poor as evidenced by the lack of customer care facilities. NAMWATER’s senior management delegated operational authority to lower management to facilitate flexibility and eliminate bottlenecks. The lower management is in turn held accountable for performance by the senior management. There are no robust methods of ensuring sufficient accountability indicated by absence of performance contracts or service level agreements. It was concluded that NAMWATER’s management approaches adhere to the NPM paradigm but some NPM core-ideas such as customer orientation and external accountability (performance contracts) were visibly missing.

Reducing school administration to a technicality? Philosophical reflections of senior German school administrators in the context of New Public Management‐based vocational school reform

Vocational schools in Germany are currently undergoing administrative reform. The main idea behind this reform, taken from the administrative paradigm of New Public Management, has been to grant schools extended autonomy but to make them more accountable for their results. Critics emphasize that such reform tends to reduce school administration to a mere technicality. Specifically, it is held to diminish philosophical reflection that is an important part of the schools’ educational fabric. This article provides evidence of administrators’ ontological, ethical, and epistemological reasoning in the context of the current reform. Evidence shows that the administrators view administrative reform as an opportunity to put their philosophical reasoning in place. Given the specific background of German vocational schools, the article concludes that additional reporting procedures and external evaluation will not necessarily diminish the relevance of the administrators’ philosophical reflection for the administration of their schools. However, philosophical reasoning is an important component of the implementation of the reform and should be encouraged when training school administrators.