In the following paragraphs, I will explain the dominant theory in public administration practice and elaborate on the major theoretical assumptions of the Old Public Administration. As stated in the question, the world has transformed through globalization, information technology, and devolution of authority since the latter part of the last century. The dominant theory in public administration has been replaced from the traditional rule-based, authority-driven processes of the Old Public Administration with market-based, competition-driven tactics in the New Public Management, beginning in the 1980s (Kettl, 2000, p. 3). This was an effort to privatize government and streamline public administration to maximize efficiency and productivity. Heavily relying on market mechanisms to guide public programs, public administrators in the New Public Management are encouraged to “steer, not row,” meaning they should not bear the burden of delivering services, but instead define programs that others will carry out, through contracting or other means (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2011, p. 13). Core values of the New Public Management include using private sector and business approaches to the public sector, squeezing as many services as possible from smaller revenues, market style incentives, providing customers more choices, and focusing on outputs and outcomes instead of mainly processes.
The New Public Management in the United States was introduced and popularized by David Osborne and Ted
Authority is defined as the ‘power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience’. There are many different organisations that enforce discipline within the public services, which have the right to extend different levels of authority and enforce different levels of obedience within a service. These are;
The paper will look further investigation on current system of public sector management. As a result, the bases of public sector governance has improve innovative policy and a development of innovative concepts. It will also highlight the significant of innovation in a present day in term social, economic and political changes as well as the flow of information technology in the 21 century to reform a public administration. The second part two of essay will highlight the best approach to streamline management practices and capacities of public servants to consolidate all procedures of resources management. Therefore, policy innovation has become one of the essential conditions for transformation of public governance. On top of that, this essay aiming to provide an overview of the barriers to policy innovation within the public sector, companies
In Today’s society, Public Administrators have faced many challenges and also many obstacles in order to manage, create and also to bring forth many opportunities that will better shape the present day and also that will better shape the future. It is the Public Administrators duty to ensure that the Government plans and also goals are running smoothly. However; it is also the Public Administrators duty to assist the public service to make sure that the goals are running smoothly and appropriately as planned. Not only that, but it is also the Public Administrators and Public Officials duty to take into consideration of the concerns the citizens might have and create plans and goals that will be in the best interest of the citizens. If challenges arise, it is the Public Administrators duty to come up with possible solutions
Neoliberalism became a dominant institutional framework in the 1980s and 1990s. Among other principles, it identifies the public sector as an impediment to social and economic development (Clark, 2002). Instead, it champions ideas and values from the private sector. The application of private sector principles to the public sector resulted in NPM and a new set of “administrative reform doctrines” were created:
The role of a public administrator in the United States today is as varied as it is essential. Government spending will approach nearly four trillion dollars in two thousand eleven, which means that qualified public servants must be in place to oversee the efficient implementation of government policies. (Andrews, 2011) “Public administrator” is a term which encompasses a wide range of possible job titles; public administrator’s range from parole officers to policy analysts, and each works day to day to help promote the welfare of society through government spending. These civil servants do not have an easy job; in almost any public administration job there are a plethora of ethical quandaries which will have to be confronted, analyzed,
Zajac-Sannerholm argues that the major problems facing public administration agencies is what he considered to be a rule of law deficit which is why the promotion of rule of law and public administration reforms should stop being treated as separate projects by the international community, and instead be brought together. Currently, the former is approached on the basis of qualitative standards while the latter is centred on quantitative matters.
In the political approach, political authority is divided between a central government and the provincial or state governments. This means that some provinces or states are accorded a substantial measure of constitutional or legal sovereignty, although they still remain subordinates of the central government in certain constitutional or legal respects. The political approach promotes the political values of military strength, economic development, union, and representation. In addition, it is characterized by three central features: state sovereignty, bicameralism, and multiple layers of representation.
Organizations are a group of people working to achieve common goals and objectives through a division of labor. A well designed and functioning organization gauges individual strengths and assigns tasks with aptitude and ability in mind, allowing the group to achieve more as a whole rather than by individual effort. The definition is simple but implementation of that definition is complicated as organizations are subject to a multitude of factors that can both enhance or constrain their performance. Understanding and managing these factors to ensure success is the mark of a good administrator and reason for study of organization theories in public adminstration programs. While general principles of organizational theory provide a baseline approach to either the public or private organizations, there are attributes of each that requires adjustments for success in each. As often in public administration, context matters.
This discussion of the relevant literature is grounded in the theoretical work expressed by Donald C Menzel, (2010), Sharfritz, et al (2011 and 2012), Cooper (2012), and Renz and Associates (2010). These literature reviews address Public Administration Theories in their similarities and differences to the societal trends that affect the leadership, policies and decision-making that affect the California HCD in carrying out its mission in affordable housing and community development.
Outcome: I have learned about different organizational theories that can be applied in public administration. I can name representatives and main ideas of the classical, the behavioral, the administration as politics approaches and describe key points of postmodernism, poststructuralism. I think this fundamental knowledge is very helpful for further study and for practical application.
Many developed countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, are beginning to focus on the public sector by introducing strategic management and performance measures, particularly in the wake of the economic downturn. McKinsey and Company suggests this is crucial, stressing that the public sector faces a decade of radical and ongoing change. The nature and scale of these trends make the coming decade a defining period for the public sector, (Barber, Levy & Mendonca, 2007).
New Public Management is the use of private sector and business approaches in the public sector in order to achieve efficiency, efficacy and quality in the delivery of public services. As a positive consequence of this, there have been increasingly positive changes through the reforms that have been implemented by New Public Management into the public sector. This paper will uncover these reforms by discussing the establishment, core principles and criticisms of New Public Management and what effect have its reforms had on the public sector.
Public sector management before the 1980s was found to be working more on a Weberian centralized model where you would find a
It can be argued that better management of public sector employees results in greater performance. There is a need for change and better understanding in the public sector; these changes can be made in both what the public sector does as it relates to their roles and responsibilities and how they carry out their functions. It has been said that the public sector as an important role to play in a country. The public sector should focus more on service the people and less on production. The aim of the public sector should be the improvement of service delivery, reducing opportunistic behavior, creating transparency with stakeholders reducing cost and to ensure the sustainability of interventions and programs. Attempts have been made to reform the public sector through aspects such as managerialism, accountability and decentralization of organizations. For a better managed public sector organization, there are certain levels from which this problem will be addressed, these include, the human level, the institutional level and the organizational level.
John M. Gaus (1950) “Trends in the Theory of Public Administration”, Public Administration Review p. 161