Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

The public sector
Table 1 Comparison of the new public management (NPM) and traditional public
services
Dimensions
of change
under NPM
Under older forms of
bureaucracy
Under NPM
Organisational
disaggregation
More
competition in
the public
sector
Uniform public servicewide
rules; centralised
controls over pay and
staffing
Public service
organisations have semipermanent
roles; unified
organisational chains of
delivery and
responsibility
Disaggregation of units in the public sector
to enhance management and focus accountability;
separately managed, corporatised
units with delegated control over resources;
disaggregation of traditional bureaucratic
organisations into commissioning and
delivering agencies, the latter related to the
‘parent’ by a contract or quasi-contract
More use of contracts and outsourcing;
competition within the public sector and
with the private sector
Adoption of
private-sector
management
practices
Emphasis on a distinctive
‘public service ethic’, particularly
its non-pecuniary
value set, permanency
andstandardnationalpay
and conditions; citizens
andbusinessesseenas
clients and beneficiaries
Adoption of private-sector reward systems,
greater flexibility in hiring and rewards; term
contracts, performance-related pay and local
determination of pay and conditions;
emphasis on service quality; citizens and
businesses are rational consumers and
therefore ‘customer responsiveness’ is
paramount
Discipline and
frugality in
resource use
Hands-on
professional
management
Emphasis on institutional
continuity and stable
budgets
Emphasis on
‘mandarins’, 30 with
traditional skills in
making, but not
administering, policy;
adherence to rules
paramount
‘Doingmorewithless’:anactivesearchfor
alternative, less costly ways to deliver public
services; reduced compliance burden for
business
‘Let the managers manage’: highly visible
managers wielding discretionary power
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