The New public management is a new perspective which evolve in early 1980s, which seeks to merge the core values of business administration in the domain of public administration. The term New Public Management was used for the first time by Christopher Hood in 1981 in his research paper titled “A New Public Management for All Seasons” which was published in a journal called “Public Administration”.
As a doctrine, the NPM, points to the failures and inadequacies of public sector performance over time and locates the problem in the nature and processes of public sector activity and public administration. Centralized bureaucracies, waste and inefficiency in resource use, inadequate mechanisms of accountability and redress are all problems which the NPM sought to address.
In its application, the term New Public Management has come to identify a series of themes aimed at reforming the organization and procedures of the public sector in order to make it more competitive and efficient in resource use and service delivery. In a very real sense, the new public management is concerned with the commercializtaion, as far as possible, of the state’s role in providing services to its citizens and of the state’s relationship to its citizens.
The Term Paper on New Public Management Administration Reform
... do to improve public sector management is to sweep away the traditional public administration paradigm that underpins their bureaucracies and introduce the new public management (Turner and ... Central and Eastern Europe: Towards Public Sector Reform in Post-Communist Societies. Cambridge, MA.Hughes, O. E. , 1994. Public Management and Administration, Macmillan, London.Rana, P. , 1995. ...
NPM basically derives its management techniques and practices from the private sector. Its focus is shifted from traditional public administration to public management, which puts emphasis on decentralized management within public services, increased use of markets and competitions in the provision of public services and increased emphasis on performance, outputs and customer orientation.
While NPM is said to be an umbrella term and thus encompasses a wide range of meanings, management scholars have basically agreed on its guiding principles, namely:
an emphasis on hands-on professional management skills for active, visible, discretionary control of organizations (freedom to manage)
explicit standards and measures of performance through clarification of goals, targets and indicators of success
a shift from the use of input controls and bureaucratic procedures to rules relying on output controls measured by quantitative performance indicators
a shift from unified management systems to disaggregation or decentralization of units in the public sector
an introduction of greater competition in the public sector so as to lower costs and achievement of higher standards through term contracts, etc
a stress on private-sector style management practices, such as the use of short-term labor contracts, the development of corporate plans, performance agreements, and mission statements
a stress on cost-cutting, efficiency, parsimony in resource use and “doing more with less”
Thus, to summarize the central feature of NPM “is the attempt to introduce or simulate, within those sections of the public service that are not privatized, the performance incentives and the disciplines that exist in a market environment”.
By the mid of 1990s, most of the western countries and their administrative structures felt the impact of reform agenda of New Public Management. The circumstances for new reforms were ripe as they needed public sector cut-backs, limiting public expenditure, and improving productivity, efficiency and economy. The reforms were implemented in various western countries mainly, the U.S., the U.K., New Zealand,Australia,etc. In the U.K. a fundamental transformation of administrative system was initiated since 1979 under the Thatcher government. Through a mechanism called ‘Prior option Review’ the activities of various departments were examined in terms of their efficiency, viability or utility. The major administrative reformsinthe U.K.include:
The Research paper on Performance Management On The Performance Of Local Governments In Rwanda
... New Public Management: Implications for Human Resource Training, pp. 23-49. Maastricht: Shaker Publishing BV Nielsen, Poul A. (2013). Performance Management, Managerial Authority, and Public Service Performance. ... agenda for each region to lie parallel to the central governments. Reforms that took in 2006, further decentralized the financial capacities of ...
Under the Financial Management Initiative, measures were taken for financial delegation through cost-analysis.
In tune with the requirement of multiple service agencies, new executive agencies called Next Step Agencies were established for discharge of a specific set of activities in a business like manner.
In 1991, the scheme of ‘Citizens’ Charter’ was introduced which insisted on public agencies to frame, publish and achieve clearly defined service standards.
Contracting out of certain public services such as street cleaning, garbage collection was introduced in 1992.
In Australia the purpose and direction of New Public Management Reforms was to reduce the activities of State and adoption of market mechanism for provision of publicservices. In New Zealand, the major reforms initiated under New Public Management include corporatization of government commercial enterprises, contractual relationship between the government and public servants to ensure better accountability, performance-orientation and customer service-orientation. Though economic and social conditions in India were different from those prevailing in Western countries, it could not escape the impact of globalization, liberalization and privatization. Accordingly some of the reform measures of New Public Management were initiated in India after 1991 in order to bringefficiency andresponsivenessingovernmentactivities. Thus, the economy was deregulated and liberalized in selective manner, private agencies were encouraged in certain activities, measures were taken to cut unnecessary government expenditure, use of information and technology was encouraged in public administration, Right to Information Act was passed in 2005 to bring transparency and responsiveness, participation of citizens groups and non-governmental organizations in administrative process was initiated in certain State governments; devolution of authority was implemented through revamped local – ‘self government institutions and in some states or departments, the instrument of citizens charter’ was also enforced.
The Term Paper on System Of Government In The Philippines During
During the Spanish colonization in the Philippines, the government was composed of two branches, the executive and the judicial. There was no legislative branch on that time since the laws of the islands were coming from Spain. The only laws created in the Philippines are those who were ordered by the Governor General. The government on that time was lead by the Governor General. He was considered ...
In a nutshell, the core characteristics of the New Public Management perspective include emphasis on productivity and cost-effectiveness in public services, adoption of market strategies by public sector, customer-orientation, decentralisation of authoritative structures, and making a distinction between a policy and its execution.
NPM’s Applicability In The Philippines
NPM is not a new concept in the Philippines. Having experienced successive economic and fiscal crises of its own, the Philippines has to continuously look for alternative models of governance. NPM, which emphasizes efficiency and effectiveness at the least cost possible, proved to be an attractive alternative to traditional public administration. Furthermore, insights from developed market economies, which successfully reformed their bureaucracy using NPM principles inspired Philippine government officials to initiate similar NPM reform efforts in the country. But the Philippine government has not really fully embraced NPM as an overarching framework of governance. Rather, NPM’s presence in the country is a result of various factors.
The role of technical consultants in the formulation of reform interventions led to the introduction of some NPM concept in the Philippines. NPM reforms have been globalized by change agents, which include large international management consultants, accountancy firms and international financial institutions. They have played an important role in packaging, selling and implementing NPM techniques when governments contemplate institutional change or strengthening. In the Philippines, it is but normal to see technical consultants, funded by bilateral and multi-lateral institutions, providing assistance to critical government agencies undergoing reforms.
Another factor that can be cited is the development in, and the availability of, information technology (IT).
IT has provided necessary tools and structures to make workable managerial reforms in the public sector possible (Greer, 1994 as cited in Labri).
The Essay on A history of the Government of the Philippines
The Philippines has been governed by the Spaniards based on its discovery giving Spain a title to the Philippines. The discovery was made by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Magellan landed on the island of Cebu, claiming the lands for Spain and naming them Islas de San Lazaro. Ferdinand Magellan converted some of the Filipinos to Roman Catholics. Magellan was killed by a local chief named Lapu-Lapu, ...
Today, many of the NPM inspired reform initiatives in the Philippines are hastened by the presence of IT infrastructures.
Finally, the structural adjustment programs of multilateral lending institutions like the World Bank, ADB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have contributed to the “growth” of NPM in the Philippines. Just like any developing country, the Philippines relies on loans and technical assistance grants provided by these multilateral institutions. According to Labri, “going first to the IMF and then to the World Bank meant accepting stabilization and structural adjustment packages with their accompanying conditionalities in order to obtain credits and debt rescheduling from creditor banks and multilateral institutions. Policy-based lending by multilateral institutions was used as an instrument to encourage crisis states to embark on reforms that were pro-market and pro-private sector.”
The privatization of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), for example, an NPM inspired reform measure, was tied up to a loan provided by multilateral agencies like the ADB. The same is true for the privatization of the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR).
In the Philippines, Naga of course is a “leading-edge” city implementing NPM, without us even knowing about it. When Mayor Jesse Robredo first became mayor in 1988, he introduced private sector tools and techniques at City Hall owing to his previous work with San Miguel Corporation. These included management by objectives and the Performance Pledge under the Productivity Improvement Program.
The Pledge, found in all city hall departments and offices, later became the basis for the development of the Citizens’ Charter. This documents some 140 or so services provided by the city government. Now on its second edition, the charter describes the step-by-step procedure in availing each service, the expected response time as well as the city hall staff responsible for each step. It is available both in printed and digital format through the city’s Website. A streamlined Bikol version is currently being developed to comprise the charter’s 3rd edition.
Another successful program of the government that incorporates this basic tenet of customer-orientation is The Mamamayan Muna, Hindi Mamaya Na Program (Citizens First Not Later).
The Term Paper on National Service Training Program (NSTP)
: God has been in this documentation, in giving such strength and guidance that accomplish this documentation paper. I would like to thank and extend my profound gratitude to those who helped me, such a way and even in a small way. Mr. Romy G. Ebi, my subject teacher who gave his valuable guidance for his worthy advice and warm support during the implementation of our OUTREACH PROGRAM. Finally, I ...
A nationwide client-satisfaction program, it seeks to instill courteous and efficient behavior among public servants, addressing the need for behavioral reforms in the bureaucracy, particularly in the manner by which civil servantsdealwiththepublic.Launched in 1994, the program is designed to minimize if not totally eradicate discourtesy, arrogance and inefficiency in the public service. It hopes to establish a culture in the public service, which recognizes the need to serve clients courteously and efficiently at the time they come for assistance and complete the service they need at the earliest time possible with the least burden on the part oftheclients.The program has successfully provided the public with a feedback mechanism for grievances against discourteous employees and red tape in government. It has generated awareness among the public that the government is seriously improving its service delivery program.
All these innovative efforts happened rather instinctively. It was part of a process to continuously improve the quality of service delivery, now consciously centered on meeting the needs of its customers. We only came to learn that they in fact are examples of NPM in practice.
The Downside
It is also crucial to manage the change process as a result of an NPM inspired project. Considering that the project, given its orientation and framework, will change the way things are being done in a particular agency, the opposition (and even the expectations) of the personnel must be managed effectively. An automation of government systems and procedures, for example, may require the realignment of certain responsibilities, the transfer of certain personnel to other divisions, and the streamlining of other tasks. It is important that they are made involved from the very beginning and made partners in the implementation of the project. Many outstanding projects have failed because they failed to take into account a change management program that is supposed to guarantee the support of critical stakeholder.
The Report on Every Member of Society Should Be Required Before the Age of 21 to Perform at Least 1 Year of Community or Government Service.
Every member of society should be required before the age of 21 to perform at least 1 year of community or government service, such as in the Piece Corps, the military, a hospital, the Environmental Conservancy Corps, a rural or inner-city schools, or some equivalent organization. It has been suggested that to improve communities of United States and to solve the problem of too few workers for ...
What do these developments mean? 1. NPM tools and techniques are applicable in the Philippine setting, especially in the context of our 15-year decentralization experience. 2: We still have a long way to go, especially in reversing the current situation where “leading edge” localities are more of the exception rather than the rule.
Challenges
Scholars are continously formulating doctrines on public administration, started on the idea of government to bureaucracy to governance to new public administration to new public management (though each one of them were designed for the betterment of public service, however gray areas have been discovered along the way).
“Continually formulating” connotes regular changing of “mechanism” of bureaucracy for some reasons like modernistic approach has to be introduced to cope with fast changing world dictated by technological advancements. Consequently, there were effective part of old mechanism replaced by new mechanism of NPM as part of the so called globalization, modernization and liberalization.
New Public Management can be characterized as post bureaucratic and competitive with a clear and dominant focus on “result”. Public managers in this paradigm had goals built around the achievement of performance target.
Aside from achievement of performance target. NPM managers should be more concerned with other aspects such as steering network of providers; creating and maintaining trust of the citizenry and responding to the collective preferences of the citizenry in addition to those of clients?
The critical performance objective were centered on the efficacy and economy largely reflecting the economic framing of government activity and the reconstruction of the citizen as customers.
Aside from management of inputs and outputs to ensure economy and responsiveness to consumer, NPM should expand its objectivity and pursue including service output, outcomes, trust legitimacy and satisfaction of the citizenry.
Multiple accountability system should be enhanced and include the citizen as overseers the government, customers are users and taxpayer as funder.
Citizens vie client satisfaction and citizens vie to aspire various social outcomes that they as composite body set forth together the important things to produce. But the origin for all of this might be a citizens desire for justice and fairness. When the government acts, it is always using commonly owned assets, both the money and authority of the state, and there are rules that guide us as to when we can use these. The general idea is that the money and the authority of the state have to be used for the betterment of all and to intensify the performance of social justice in a way that government conducts itself and in the result that it seeks to achieve.
Finally, the citizens as collective body vie from the government the amalgamation of high performing service oriented public bureaucracy, public organization that are efficient in achieving aspired social outcomes, that is known to be just and fair in the way in which it is performed, and would lead to just and fair conditions in the society at large.
