New Public Management Principles Research Articles

Розробка і впровадження нових організаційних структур в публічному секторі

Розробка і впровадження нових організаційних структур в публічному секторі

New Public Management and Internationalization in Latin American Top-Tier Universities: A Multiple Case Study

The internationalization of universities has become increasingly important in recent decades. A dominant internationalization model, influenced by principles of new public management, has emerged. Latin American universities have undergone significant changes as a result of this trend. This paper takes inspiration from the sociology of translation to examine how leading Latin American institutions are addressing these challenges at both organizational and cultural levels. The findings indicate that cultural transformation is prevalent, strongly influenced by the Latin American tradition of extension. However, at the organizational level, imitation is more relevant, as evidenced by the adoption of new public management principles to devise strategies, plans, and programs that prioritize professionalization and the widespread use of indicators. This development gives rise to a distinct cultural internationalization model for Latin American universities.

Entrepreneurship in care for elderly people with dementias: situated responses to NPM-based healthcare reforms in the Netherlands

BackgroundDespite the great confidence of Western governments in the principles of New Public Management (NPM) and its ability to stimulate “healthcare entrepreneurship”, it is unclear how policies seeking to reform healthcare services provoke such entrepreneurship in individual institutions providing long-term healthcare. This study examines such situated responses in a Dutch nursing home for elderly people suffering from dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease.MethodsA four-year inductive longitudinal single-case study has been conducted. During this time period, the Dutch government imposed various NPM-based healthcare reforms and this study examines how local responses unfolded in the nursing home. Through interviews conducted with managers, administrators and supporting staff, as well as the examination of a large volume of government instructions and internal documents, the paper documents how these reforms resulted in several types of entrepreneurship, which were not all conducive to the healthcare innovations the government aspired to have.ResultsThe study records three subsequent strategies deployed at the local level: elimination of healthcare services; non-healthcare related collaboration with neighboring institutions; and specialization in specific healthcare niches. These strategies were brought about by specific types of entrepreneurship – two of which were oriented towards the administrative organization rather than healthcare innovations. The study discusses the implications of having multiple variations of entrepreneurship at the local level.ConclusionGovernmental policies for healthcare reforms may be more effective, if policymakers change output-based funding systems in recognition of the limited control by providers of long-term healthcare over the progression of clients' mental disease and ultimate passing.

New public management and aquatic and recreation centre planning and decision-making processes

ABSTRACT Rationale/Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore how new public management (NPM) components influence the planning and decision-making of local government aquatic and recreation centre (ARCs) development. Methodology: Two case studies were conducted in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Data collection comprised documents (n = 264) and semi-structured interviews (n = 19) to understand the real-life experiences of people involved in ARC planning and decision-making. Deductive analysis was used to identify how NPM components influenced the ARC planning and decision-making process. Findings: ARC planners were primarily driven by financial outputs. Results identified four of the seven NPM components are active in the planning and decision-making across both cases. These include management skills, output controls, creating competition and resource efficiency. Practical implications: From a theoretical perspective, the findings suggest that resource efficiency decisions were prioritised in the ARC decision-making process. Local governments need to consider their motivations towards achieving financial efficiencies and the subsequent impacts on ARC provision. This approach influences local governments’ capacity to address social planning objectives. Research contribution: Local governments in Melbourne, Australia employ NPM principles in their ARC planning and decision-making practices.

From New Public Management to public value: Irish education policy through the lens of Statements of Strategy

ABSTRACT Through the lens of successive Department of Education and Science (DES) Statements of Strategy (1997–2021) the author considers the evolution of Irish education policy making from the perspectives of New Public Management (NPM) and the public value paradigm. In the context of changing international and national environments, the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI), introduced in 1994, was rooted in NPM principles and characterised by performance indicators, measurable outcomes/outputs, and value for money. However, more recent strategy statements have been predicated on vision, a whole-of-system approach, and values that include learning as a public good, and wellbeing. This evolution occurred in an environment where social partnership has been a constant feature. Following consideration of the main contours of ten SSs, and discussion of the relevant antecedents and the move towards public value, some unresolved issues are briefly identified in the concluding remarks.

New public management and aquatic and recreation centre planning and decision-making processes

ABSTRACT Rationale/Purpose The purpose of the study was to explore how new public management (NPM) components influence the planning and decision-making of local government aquatic and recreation centre (ARCs) development. Methodology Two case studies were conducted in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Data collection comprised documents (n = 264) and semi-structured interviews (n = 19) to understand the real-life experiences of people involved in ARC planning and decision-making. Deductive analysis was used to identify how NPM components influenced the ARC planning and decision-making process. Findings ARC planners were primarily driven by financial outputs. Results identified four of the seven NPM components are active in the planning and decision-making across both cases. These include management skills, output controls, creating competition and resource efficiency. Practical implications From a theoretical perspective, the findings suggest that resource efficiency decisions were prioritised in the ARC decision-making process. Local governments need to consider their motivations towards achieving financial efficiencies and the subsequent impacts on ARC provision. This approach influences local governments’ capacity to address social planning objectives. Research contribution Local governments in Melbourne, Australia employ NPM principles in their ARC planning and decision-making practices.

The discourse of delivering person-centred nursing care before, and during, the COVID-19 pandemic: Care as collateral damage.

The global COVID-19 pandemic challenged the world-how it functions, how people move in the social worlds and how government/government services and people interact. Health services, operating under the principles of new public management, have undertaken rapid changes to service delivery and models of care. What has become apparent is the mechanisms within which contemporary health services operate and how services are not prioritising the person at the centre of care. Person-centred care (PCC) is the philosophical premise upon which models of health care are developed and implemented. Given the strain that COVID-19 has placed on the health services and the people who deliver the care, it is essential to explore the tensions that exist in this space. This article suggests that before the pandemic, PCC was largely rhetoric, and rendered invisible during the pandemic. The paper presents an investigation into the role of PCC in these challenging times, adopting a Foucauldian lens, specifically governmentality and biopolitics, to examine the policies, priorities and practical implications as health services pivoted and adapted to changing and acute demands. Specifically, this paper draws on the Australian experience, including shifting nursing workforce priorities and additional challenges resulting from public health directives such as lockdowns and limitations. The findings from this exploration open a space for discussion around the rhetoric of PCC, the status of nurses and that which has been lost to the pandemic.

Overweight children in rural Norway - public health nurses' possibilities and limitations within national guidelines.

Globally, overweight and obesity are more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent public health nurses in rural areas in Norway feel equipped to tackle the overweight and obesity epidemic within two sets of national guidelines: The National Guidelines for the Standardized Measurement of Height and Weight and The National Guidelines for the Prevention, Identification, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents. These guidelines are inspired by New Public Management (NPM) logic, which emphasises more market orientation within the public sector to obtain a more cost-effective supply of public goods. The focus is on the weighing of schoolchildren, available resources, inter-agency cooperation and the rural context. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire among 40 public health nurses working with children in rural areas, as well as qualitative interviews with 25 informants involved in the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity among rural children. The study shows that rural public health nurses worry about the lack of resources for follow-up with children with a body mass index greater than what is characterised as 'normal'. The public health nurses suggested better cooperation between different stakeholders to work around the lack of resources and at the same time be able to see the whole picture, considering that overweight and obesity are complex problems connected to different challenges. They believed that it is an advantage to see the individuals in their local surroundings, to know their family history, their leisure activities and so on. This might be easier in rural areas than in urban areas, as these areas are often more transparent. There was consensus among the public health nurses involved in this study that national guidelines for treating overweight and obesity in children with the principles of NPM, and simplifying and standardising services, adds challenges instead of solutions. Such practices also hinder the use of experience-based knowledge about both the individual and the local context. There is a need for more flexible guidelines that can easily be adapted to the local (rural) context.

New Public Management Reform: Implementation Experiences of Developing Countries and Nepal

This article examines the practical experiences of developing countries and Nepal regarding new public management (NPM) reforms. This article employed the descriptive research design based on the systematic literature review using almost 50 articles for the analysis; the study aims to understand the extent of NPM adoptions. While many developing countries have partially embraced NPM principles, full implementation remains a challenge. NPM has portrayed public managers as business-like owners of a leaner, more privatized government, incorporating corporate methods and principles. However, the argument suggests that NPM may not be appropriate for developing nations due to issues like corruption and administrative incompetence. NPM initiatives in the underdeveloped world have resulted in both successes and failures, influenced by localized contextual factors rather than national capabilities. The circumstances should guide reformers, urging open-mindedness towards effective strategies. Since the 1960s, Nepal has pursued public administration strengthening efforts, adopting NPM-related reform principles after 1990. Despite good intentions, NPM-based reforms have not brought significant improvements to Nepalese public administration. The article also focuses on how Nepal's political environment, path-dependency traits, and bureaucratic behavior have influenced the implementation of NPM-oriented reforms.

Can “publishing game” pressures affect the research topic choice? A survey of European accounting researchers

This study explores the uninvestigated area of research agenda setting, which has considerable influence on the societal impact of accounting academia, which the paying-off mentality stemming from a “publish or perish” culture risks jeopardizing. More specifically, it investigates the research topic choice of accounting researchers to ascertain whether and how the “publishing game” pressures induced by the governance principles of new public management influence this crucial decision. Survey evidence shows that European accounting researchers choose their research topics by considering (i) explicit research requests, (ii) short-term publishing opportunities, (iii) practical and educational needs, and (iv) the intellectual needs of the academic community. In this respect, researchers seem to form a heterogeneous community that places varying importance on these factors, suggesting different effects of “publishing game” pressures. The three clusters aim at societal impact through diverse avenues, while the probability of rapid publishing seems to be the primary driver of another cluster, thus revealing a substantial risk of goal displacement. This study contributes to the debate on publishing pressures in accounting academia by complementing the contextualized reflections of previous literature with evidence documenting their effects on what (in addition to how) accounting researchers study. These findings have policy and practical implications that can help policymakers, university managers, gatekeepers of the publishing process, and our entire academic community.

The rise and rise of academy trusts: continuing changes to the state-funded school system in England

ABSTRACT This paper delineates the growth of academy trusts in England before exploring government intentions to base the future state-funded school system on ‘strong’ multi-academy trusts. Academies, directly funded by the central government, first appeared in 2002 as an alternative to local authority-managed provision, with the initial intention of addressing continued underperformance of schools in urban areas. It was not until 2010, however, with an incoming Coalition government that the academisation process was widened, a policy seemingly driven by a desire to limit the influence of local authorities in line with principles of new public management (NPM). The number of academies increased dramatically (for a variety of reasons) to the point where now over half the school population are within them. Individual academies have, since the appointment of Regional School Commissioners in 2014, been encouraged to join formally with other academies as multi-academy trusts (MATs). Whilst by 2022 there were nearly 10,000 academies, most were in MATs with the government signalling its intention through a White Paper to base the future on them. The academisation process has featured several areas of concern, however, not all of which will be resolved by the policy statements contained in this proposal for new legislation.

The new public management, a reference framework for contemporary administrative reforms: the Moroccan experience

Since the 1980s, traditional public management has been transformed, giving rise to the so-called New Public Management (NPM) paradigm. Many public administrations are embracing this trend, reforming their organisations, tools and forms of intervention to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their management, in order to provide quality public services. However, in different cases, the specific characteristics of each country mean that the implementation of the NPM postulates is different and has different rhythms even if on some points there is some degree of convergence. This highlighted the existence of limits to the applicability of the NPM, which gave rise to criticism. Morocco has not escaped the process of modernization of its administration by relying on the principles of new public management, the objective was to improve the efficiency of the services rendered to the citizens and to achieve cost savings of public expenditure. However, a number of deficiencies have prevented the Moroccan authorities from achieving the expected results of the modernization process in place since 2000.

‘We Are Not Just Asking What Poland Can Do for the Polish Diaspora but Mainly What the Polish Diaspora Can Do for Poland’: The Influence of New Public Management on the Polish Diaspora Policy in the Years 2011–2015

This article describes and analyses Polish diaspora policy changes in the years 2011–2015. Two decades after the rebirth of the Polonia policy in 1989, it was completely rebuilt. Emphasising values and Poland’s obligations towards the diaspora was replaced by paying more attention to the interests and profitability of this policy. The authors demonstrate how New Public Management (NPM) concepts influenced this shift. Analysis of two different sources – documents programming Polish diaspora policy and interviews with experts and persons designing the Polonia policy – confirmed that NPM principles influenced Polish diaspora policy on five dimensions: organisational restructuring, management instruments, budgetary reforms, participation, marketisation/privatisation.

Visibilities and invisibilities in academic work and career building

ABSTRACT In the current turbulent higher education environment, academic work and career building are in a state of flux. The implementation of the principles of New Public Management have intensified managerial control over academic work. Growing dependence on external funding and metrics-based performance assessments have made career building increasingly competitive, selective, and risky. Disciplinary and organisational boundaries have been dissolving as interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral ways of collaboration have become policy priorities. These trends have challenged visible boundaries between disciplines, organisations, sectors, work tasks and academic roles. However, at the same time, new visible and invisible boundaries are being established. In spite of declaring to bring visibility, openness and transparency to academic work and career trajectories, the managerial university invokes new invisibilities which can reproduce some deeply-rooted visible hierarchies. This Special Issue explores the complex interplay between visibilities and invisibilities in academic work and career building. The six articles tackle this question from the perspective of interdisciplinary research, new notions of an ideal academic, resistance to managerial demands, doctoral education, the emergence of invisible researchers, and scholarly profession in different sectors.

Trabajo docente y capitalismo académico. Girando las lentes para comprender el trabajo cotidiano en la universidad contemporánea

The introduction of the principles of New Public Management in higher education worldwide caused profound transformations in the systems, institutions and practices of the actors. University teaching work underwent significant modifications in its conditions, forms of organization and evaluation. In this writing we focus on the forms that teaching work assumes in the context of academic capitalism from the understanding of what circulates in the daily life of the university. For this, fragments of interviews and extracts of informal conversations with professors of public universities in Argentina are recovered. Issues such as the material and symbolic recognition of the work done, the relationships between teaching work and daily life, the question of working time as the computer of life time, the intensification of tasks and the growing demand for permanent availability are addressed.

Internal Audit and the Modernization of Moroccan Public Administrations

The new constitution of 2011 and the Organic Law n ° 130-13 related to the Finance law constituted for Morocco a major turning point in the modernization’s path of the public administration. A much desired objective, that can only be achieved by the dissemination within public administrations of a set of management principles and techniques allowing Morocco to set up an effective and efficient management of administrative affairs. The same goes for the advent of currents that promote the application of the principles of good governance and new public management, through the adoption of management standards and practices borrowed from the private sector. According to this logic, Moroccan public administrations have become aware of the importance of adopting internal audit as a mean to improvt their performance.

Why Should the Budgetary Performance of Municipalities Be Optimized: Performance-Based Management

The performance issue always arises at the level of the local public administrations (or APUL) because of ineffective management. Most of the Malagasy decentralized local authorities (or CTD) are faced with insufficient resources and unnecessary or non-objective expenditure, due to the lack of control and reliable administration methodology. As a result, the public expenditure reform was the establishment of medium-term planned public expenditure or medium-term expenditure framework (CDMT) oriented to Result-Based Management (or GAR). For the CTD, it is the establishment of the program budget for a rationalization of the budget and its performance by abandoning the budget of resources. Performance therefore consists of using the results of a higher level of service, or of developing the quality of service by effectively managing local resources and the low contribution of the State, in times of crisis. This is why it is necessary to put into practice the principles of new public management, or New public management, which thus allows a rationalization of public expenditure, thanks in particular to the introduction of management control in administrations.

The culture of modern public administration. The case of Greece.

The period stretching from 1974 till now has been characterized as the most stable period of the political and administrative history of Greece. However, the appropriate organizational culture which can contribute to the creation of a strategic vision for Greek public administration has not yet been shaped. Therefore, the public sector is not efficient and productive. On the contrary, bureaucratic pathogenies are particularly prevalent. These pathogenies have been rendered even more intense during the economic crisis and the recent pandemic. It is necessary that the modern culture of public administration be focused on effective cooperation, the satisfaction of both citizens and administrative executives’ expectations, respect for the individuality and development of public sector executives, the enhancement of public services’ good reputation, assessment, communication and finally the implementation of the principles of ethics, integrity and legitimacy. The culture of a modern public administration should be based on the principles of new public management and electronic government. This article is based on the study of secondary sources, more specifically institutional texts, international and national organizations’ reports, studies, historical texts, as well as civil servants’ views. The conclusions are particularly significant and can spark off the change of the organizational culture in public administration.

Necessary changes, adverse effects? The institutional patterns of adaptation of economics universities to changes prompted by the reform of Poland’s science and higher education system

The currently implemented reform of Poland’s science and higher education system extensively draws on the principles of new public management in both curricula and management. It also replicates, at times uncritically, the changes put into effect in European higher education institutions. As early as 2017, the intentions of the decision makers were made clear by the introduction of a new funding algorithm, which completely altered the existing rules of the game. This algorithm particularly affected public economics universities, which were forced to make some adaptations. In this article, we focus on ways in which economics universities adapted to two specific solutions proposed by the legislator, that is, (1) the new funding algorithm and (2) the new career path called ‘teaching professorship’. Based on an in-depth study and using the theories of new institutionalism, we explore the mechanisms of adaptation to the new provisions as they apply to public economics universities. Finally, we identify and discuss four kinds of risks resulting directly from the new public management–based assumptions adopted by the reformers, namely, (1) the invasiveness of the proposed changes, (2) the fragmentary perception of the science and higher education system, (3) the inconsistency of the actions and (4) the ostensible adaptation measures taken by the institutions.

An evaluation of the application of the new public management principles in the South African municipalities

New public management (NPM) was introduced in the western world with a sole purpose of reforming the public sector and its approaches in managing affairs of the state. These reforms were later adopted in some parts of the African continent including in the sub‐Saharan Africa trying to emulate the successes of the developed economies of the world. South Africa as one of the countries in Africa also sought to shift from its apartheid bureaucratic, inefficient and rule driven management of public affairs. To this end, the democratic South Africa aligned its constitutional provisions with the principles of NPM which include but are not limited to participatory planning, decentralisation, performance management, effectiveness and efficiency. These principles were introduced precisely to better manage the state and its resources including at the local sphere of government. Local government in South Africa is underpinned by its own sets of policy frameworks. This conceptual paper seeks to evaluate the application of NPM principles in the South African municipalities. The said evaluation was undertaken through a review of existing literature. The paper concludes that the application of the said principles in the South African municipalities is confronted by some challenges including lack of political will, corruption as well as lack of skills and capacities. Necessary recommendations have been developed to enhance the performance of municipalities so as to achieve the otherwise good intended provisions of the NPM.