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From Old Public Administration to the New Public Service

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From Old Public Administration to the New Public Service From Old Public Administration to the New Public Service Implications for Public Sector Reform in Developing Countries Author: Mark Robinson © 2015 UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence #08-01, Block A, 29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, 119620 Singapore UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in more than 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations. The Global Centre for Public Service Excellence is UNDP’s catalyst for new thinking, strategy and action in the area of public service, promoting innovation, evidence, and collaboration. Disclaimer The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations, including UNDP, or the UN Member States. Cover image BY-NC Scottish Government AFRC Page 2 Public Sector Reform CONTENTS 1. Introduction 4 2. Models of public administration and 4 approaches to public sector reform 3. The old public administration 5 4. The new public management 7 5. The new public governance 9 6. The new public service 10 7. Globalization, complexity and 12 wicked problems 8. Implications for public sector reform 14 9. Next steps? 15 10. References 16 List of boxes and tables Box 1. Singapore’s model of public 6 management Box 2. Failure and success in civil service reform 7 Box 3. Impact of revenue authorities in 8 sub-saharan Africa Box 4. Collaborative networks for 13 tackling corruption in Malaysia Table 1. Public service reform problems 5 and approaches Table 2. Comparing perspectives: 10 old public administration, new public management, and the new public service Public Sector Reform Page 3 1. Introduction Public administration in the 21st century is undergoing dramatic change, especially in advanced economies, but also in many parts of the developing world. Globalization and the pluralization of service provision are the driving forces behind these changes. Policy problems faced by governments are increasingly complex, wicked and global, rather than simple, linear, and national in focus. And yet the prevailing paradigms through which public sector reform are designed and implemented are relatively static and do not fully encompass the significance or implications of these wider changes. While public sector reforms in the developing world are influenced by policy experiments and organizational practices originating in OECD countries, they tend to operate within the traditional public administration paradigm. Consequently, there is often BY-NC-ND Asian Development Bank / Construction of the a discrepancy between the thrust of public sector reform new Uzbekistan-Khazakstan Highway has boosted regional efforts in developing country contexts and wider shifts in the trade. nature of governance and contemporary approaches to public addresses several shortcomings in existing approaches to management grounded in OECD experience. public sector reform in the face of new global challenges This paper argues that public sector reform efforts in developing and growing complexity in public policy, highlighting the countries need to embrace these changes selectively and draw need for collaborative approaches and solutions that draw on a range of public management models that are appropriate in actors outside government to address wicked problems. to different contexts while putting the needs and interests of The concluding section argues in favour of a heterodox citizens at the heart of reform efforts consistent with the New approach to public management reform that acknowledges Public Service approach. The paper explores the limitations of the importance of context, embraces adaptive responses hierarchy and rigidity associated with the traditional Public to complexity, emphasises the significance of motivations Administration approach and the problems of plurality and and incentives, and privileges the interests and needs of fragmentation associated with the New Public Management citizens as the primary focus of public service reform, while perspective that emerged in the 1980s. The case for a shift recognizing the importance of maintaining an efficient and in focus reflects changes in the wider global environment, capable core public service. and complex and multi-faceted policy problems which in turn 2. Models of public administration and require more coherent responses approaches to public sector reform Policy problems from governments and greater There are numerous studies of public administration and collaboration across public sector faced …are public sector reforms in advanced industrialized countries. agencies. The emergence of hybrid Models of public administration in developing countries have increasingly forms of public management generally drawn on experience in advanced countries and drawing on elements of all complex, public sector reforms have often mirrored reform initiatives three approaches is presented originating in OECD countries. Several frameworks have wicked and as an inevitable consequence been developed to classify and analyse different approaches of these changes. Finally, the global... to public administration and public sector reforms in paper argues for the need to advanced industrialized countries. Most of these focus on shift from a preoccupation with the transition from the Old Public Administration to the organizational form and function New Public Management that occurred in the 1980s and to place greater emphasis on 1990s. From 2000 there was a discernible trend towards an citizen engagement and the emerging model variously termed the “new public service”, motivations and incentives that the “new public governance” or the “post-New Public drive the public service. Management” (Dunleavy and Hood, 1994; Denhardt and Denhardt, 2000; Osborne, 2006). The introductory section examines the major approaches to public administration and how these have shaped the public Each of these approaches to public administration is associated sector reform agenda in developing countries, highlighting with a distinct philosophy and conceptual framework. The the factors that have impeded the implementation and traditional approach to public administration is predicated on impact of these reforms. The second section examines the a top-down and elitist approach in which public officials are changing nature of public administration, distinguishing instilled with values of hierarchy, independence, and integrity, between three models of public management and identifying and are insulated from politicians and citizens. The focus in their key attributes and limitations. The following section Page 4 Public Sector Reform Table 1. Public service reform problems and approaches Problem Approach Main action period How can we put government on an orderly “Weberian” public administration and 1. Post-independence efficient footing? capacity-building How can we get government closer to the 2. Decentralization 1970s to present grassroots? How can we make government more 3. Pay and employment reform 1980s and 1990s affordable? How can we make government perform better 4. New Public Management 1990s to present and deliver on our key objectives? 5. How can we make government more honest? Integrity and anti-corruption reforms 1990s to present How can we make government more 6. “Bottom-up” reforms Late 1990s to present responsive to citizens? Source: McCourt, 2013. this approach is on structure and organizational efficiency, 3. The old public administration epitomized by command and control and underpinned Influenced by the ideas of Max Weber, the prevailing approach by a clear public sector ethos. In contrast, the New Public to public administration for much of the 20th century drew Management approach is based on public choice theory on a model of bureaucracy based on the twin principles and the principal-agent approach in which public officials of hierarchy and meritocracy. It was initially introduced as require oversight and supervision to constrain their self- part of wide-ranging bureaucratic reforms in the United interested behaviour and thereby prevent inefficiency and Kingdom and Prussia in the late 19th century to overcome corruption. The New Public Service perspective, rooted in patrimonial systems of administration where patronage and democratic theory, emphasizes the accountability of officials favouritism dominated government decisions and public to citizens, whereby officials serve and respond to citizens appointments. This approach had a number of distinctive rather than steering society. It assumes that public officials features. It relied on centralized control, set rules and will be motivated to serve by virtue of a commitment to the guidelines, separated policymaking from implementation, and public interest and will respond to citizens’ expectations employed a hierarchical organizational structure (Osborne, of a healthy and responsive public service (Osborne, 2006; 2006). The watchwords were efficiency and effectiveness Denhardt and Denhardt, 2011). in the management of budgetary and human resources. Many developing countries have followed a similar trajectory Drawing on Minogue (2001), McCourt (2013) sets out of approaches and reforms to those in more advanced the central features of this model: countries through broader governance agendas supported A separation between politics and elected
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