summary public management and administration owen e hughes 9781137560070
,summary public management and administration owen e hughes 9781137560070
, summary public management and administration owen e hughes 9781137560070
Chapter 1 – An Era of Change
Introduction
Since the early 1980s, a raft of changes has occurred in public sector management in a number of
countries, and it appears that more change is yet to come.
A public administrator is someone who follows the rules to the letter and carries out instructions. On the
other hand, a public manager is personally responsible for the achievement of results,
Dissatisfaction with government
A turning point may be 2008. The crisis called into question not only the management of government, but
government itself, and even, in many countries, widespread dissatisfaction and disillusionment with
politics and the political system.
The year 2016 saw the Brexit; a rise in right-wing populism in Eastern Europe; authoritarianism in other
countries; and the election of Donald Trump. Radical transformation was promised. It is a particularly
difficult time to be a public manager and there is a likelihood of further difficulty to follow.
From public administration to public management
Whether the words 'management' and 'administration' are different from each other is an important part
of the present argument. We argue they have conceptual differences, reflected if adding the word
“public”.
Administration involves following instructions and focuses on process, while management involves, first,
the achievement of results, and second, personal responsibility by the manager for results being achieved.
Management does include administration.
Public management as a field of study
Public management is a field of academic discourse, as are public administration, public policy and other
related disciplines.
Public administration earlier form of both management and the academic study of the public sector. The
theory dominant is the traditional model of public administration.
Public management approach to the running of government that regards the work performed as
management rather than administration. Managerialism is essentially the same.
New Public Management Hood (1991). The term has not been useful. Used by those opposed to
managerial change.
Public policy output of government; School emphasizing rationality and empirical methods.
Governance setting up the structures and institutional arrangements to enable an organization to be run.
Public value overall strategic purpose for public agencies to add value to the public.
For now, the encompassing term is simply 'public management', that simply means the management that
is carried out in the public sector.
Public and private management
Historically, the two sectors have borrowed from each other. Still, there are reasons why they are not alike.
DIFFERENCES IN THE SECTORS The question is whether these differences between them 1)
1. Public sector decisions may be enough to need a specific form of management; 2) to require
coercive (forced upon individuals). the use of the traditional administrative model rather than a
2. Public sector’s accountability is more managerial model.
problematic, less certain and
1) The public sector is sufficiently different to need its own
uneven.
3. A public manager must cope with an form of management. There may be advantages in adapting and
outside political agenda. using some practices, but the basic task is different.
4. The public sector has inherent 2) However, the second point does not follow. The
difficulties in measuring output. It traditional administrative model is not the only valid way of
lacks 'bottom-line' criteria.
managing in the public sector.
5. 5. The public sector's size and
diversity make co-ordination
difficult.
, summary public management and administration owen e hughes 9781137560070
Imperatives of public sector change
The wave of reform was a response to perceived inefficiency, changes in economic theories and change in
technology.
The public sector in society
The 70s and early 80s saw intellectual attacks on the size and capability of the sector. Major reforms
followed the elections of Thatcher and Reagan.
There were three main aspects to the attack:
1. The scale was simply too large, government consumed too many resources. Government
responded to some extent in developed countries.
2. Arguments about the scope of government. It was argued that governments were involved in too
many activities. Privatization of became a widely accepted strategy. Cutting regulation has also
been a popular mantra.
3. Attack on the methods of government, with bureaucracy becoming unpopular, regarded mediocre
and inefficient.
The attacks faded by the late 1990s.
The GFC would have been much worse if not for the action taken by governments.
Since 2015 there has been another wave of disillusionment, more irrational. Critical movements drawn
from the far Right find adherents from the less educated, with the target being anyone seen as part of the
elite.
The role of economics
In the 1970s, some Right-wing economists argued that governments were the economic problem and that
markets were superior (neo – classical economics, drifting away from Keynesian theory).
Public choice theory Application of microeconomics to political and social areas. Generally, concludes that the
'best' outcome will involve a maximum role for market and a minimum for governments.
Principal-agent theory explains divergence between goals of managers (agents) in private firms and
shareholders (principals) and how to incentive agents to work for principals’ goals.
Transaction cost theory transactions are without cost and specifies the circumstances in which a firm might
prefer market-testing or contracting to in-house provision.
Neo-classical and new institutional economics did not work when confronted by the reality of the GFC. Only
government involvement could stop the crisis getting worse. What was left was government debt that led
to more pressure into public sector’s reform. A set of correctives came in 2016.
Technological change
The theory of bureaucracy was a perfect fit for the then-available technology of a single document that is then
passed up or down a hierarchical structure. What newer technology can do is to compress the levels of a
hierarchy.
An interesting time
The debate over early public sector change was based on facts. The new anti-governmentalism is very
different: ideologies are more important than facts.
2
,summary public management and administration owen e hughes 9781137560070
, summary public management and administration owen e hughes 9781137560070
Chapter 1 – An Era of Change
Introduction
Since the early 1980s, a raft of changes has occurred in public sector management in a number of
countries, and it appears that more change is yet to come.
A public administrator is someone who follows the rules to the letter and carries out instructions. On the
other hand, a public manager is personally responsible for the achievement of results,
Dissatisfaction with government
A turning point may be 2008. The crisis called into question not only the management of government, but
government itself, and even, in many countries, widespread dissatisfaction and disillusionment with
politics and the political system.
The year 2016 saw the Brexit; a rise in right-wing populism in Eastern Europe; authoritarianism in other
countries; and the election of Donald Trump. Radical transformation was promised. It is a particularly
difficult time to be a public manager and there is a likelihood of further difficulty to follow.
From public administration to public management
Whether the words 'management' and 'administration' are different from each other is an important part
of the present argument. We argue they have conceptual differences, reflected if adding the word
“public”.
Administration involves following instructions and focuses on process, while management involves, first,
the achievement of results, and second, personal responsibility by the manager for results being achieved.
Management does include administration.
Public management as a field of study
Public management is a field of academic discourse, as are public administration, public policy and other
related disciplines.
Public administration earlier form of both management and the academic study of the public sector. The
theory dominant is the traditional model of public administration.
Public management approach to the running of government that regards the work performed as
management rather than administration. Managerialism is essentially the same.
New Public Management Hood (1991). The term has not been useful. Used by those opposed to
managerial change.
Public policy output of government; School emphasizing rationality and empirical methods.
Governance setting up the structures and institutional arrangements to enable an organization to be run.
Public value overall strategic purpose for public agencies to add value to the public.
For now, the encompassing term is simply 'public management', that simply means the management that
is carried out in the public sector.
Public and private management
Historically, the two sectors have borrowed from each other. Still, there are reasons why they are not alike.
DIFFERENCES IN THE SECTORS The question is whether these differences between them 1)
1. Public sector decisions may be enough to need a specific form of management; 2) to require
coercive (forced upon individuals). the use of the traditional administrative model rather than a
2. Public sector’s accountability is more managerial model.
problematic, less certain and
1) The public sector is sufficiently different to need its own
uneven.
3. A public manager must cope with an form of management. There may be advantages in adapting and
outside political agenda. using some practices, but the basic task is different.
4. The public sector has inherent 2) However, the second point does not follow. The
difficulties in measuring output. It traditional administrative model is not the only valid way of
lacks 'bottom-line' criteria.
managing in the public sector.
5. 5. The public sector's size and
diversity make co-ordination
difficult.
, summary public management and administration owen e hughes 9781137560070
Imperatives of public sector change
The wave of reform was a response to perceived inefficiency, changes in economic theories and change in
technology.
The public sector in society
The 70s and early 80s saw intellectual attacks on the size and capability of the sector. Major reforms
followed the elections of Thatcher and Reagan.
There were three main aspects to the attack:
1. The scale was simply too large, government consumed too many resources. Government
responded to some extent in developed countries.
2. Arguments about the scope of government. It was argued that governments were involved in too
many activities. Privatization of became a widely accepted strategy. Cutting regulation has also
been a popular mantra.
3. Attack on the methods of government, with bureaucracy becoming unpopular, regarded mediocre
and inefficient.
The attacks faded by the late 1990s.
The GFC would have been much worse if not for the action taken by governments.
Since 2015 there has been another wave of disillusionment, more irrational. Critical movements drawn
from the far Right find adherents from the less educated, with the target being anyone seen as part of the
elite.
The role of economics
In the 1970s, some Right-wing economists argued that governments were the economic problem and that
markets were superior (neo – classical economics, drifting away from Keynesian theory).
Public choice theory Application of microeconomics to political and social areas. Generally, concludes that the
'best' outcome will involve a maximum role for market and a minimum for governments.
Principal-agent theory explains divergence between goals of managers (agents) in private firms and
shareholders (principals) and how to incentive agents to work for principals’ goals.
Transaction cost theory transactions are without cost and specifies the circumstances in which a firm might
prefer market-testing or contracting to in-house provision.
Neo-classical and new institutional economics did not work when confronted by the reality of the GFC. Only
government involvement could stop the crisis getting worse. What was left was government debt that led
to more pressure into public sector’s reform. A set of correctives came in 2016.
Technological change
The theory of bureaucracy was a perfect fit for the then-available technology of a single document that is then
passed up or down a hierarchical structure. What newer technology can do is to compress the levels of a
hierarchy.
An interesting time
The debate over early public sector change was based on facts. The new anti-governmentalism is very
different: ideologies are more important than facts.
2
