New Public Management New Public Management: Current Trends and Future Prospects represents a critical evaluation of the nature and impact of new public management, reflecting the latest thinking in the field. The text offers a comprehensive analysis of the topic by leading authorities from around the world, from both theoretical and practical viewpoints. The authors examine the subject from six distinct approaches: in context, in action, in an international comparative context, in research, in evaluation and, finally, by looking at its future prospects. In order to provide the reader with the best possible mix of views, policy issues and management issues have been finely balanced. This timely and constructive overview of new public management is an essential addition to the bookshelves of anybody teaching, studying or practising public management today. The book offers important lessons for public management across the world and provides an invaluable insight into the subject for those studying social policy, political science, public services management and public administration. Kate McLaughlin is Lecturer in Public Management and Local Governance at the School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham. She is Co-Director of the Public Services MBA Programme and editor of the journal Local Governance. Stephen P. Osborne is Professor in Public Management and Director of the Research Degrees Programme at Aston Business School, Aston University. He is editor of the journal Public Management Review and series editor of Routledge Studies in the Management of Voluntary and Non-Profit Organizations. Ewan Ferlie is Professor of Public Services Management at Imperial College Management School, University of London. He is the co-author of many articles and several key texts on new public management, including The New Public Management in Action (Oxford University Press, 1996). New Public Management Current trends and future prospects Edited by Kate McLaughlin, Stephen P. Osborne and Ewan Ferlie London and New York First published 2002 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Selection and editorial matter © 2002 Kate McLaughlin, Stephen P. Osborne and Ewan Ferlie; individual chapters © the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0-203-99636-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0–415–24362–9 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–24363–7 (pbk) In fond and loving memory of Tom McLaughlin Contents List of contributors x Acknowledgements xii Current trends and future prospects of public management: a guide 1 KATE MCLAUGHLIN AND STEPHEN P. OSBORNE PART 1 The New Public Management in context 5 1 The New Public Management in context 7 STEPHEN P. OSBORNE AND KATE MCLAUGHLIN 2 Origins of the New Public Management: an international view from public administration/political science 15 MICHAEL BARZELAY 3 New Public Management: a discussion with special reference to UK health 34 SANDRA DAWSON AND CHARLOTTE DARGIE 4 Explaining the New Public Management: the importance of context 57 NORMAN FLYNN 5 The New Public Management, modernization and institutional change: disruptions, disjunctures and dilemmas 77 JANET NEWMAN viii Contents PART 11 The New Public Management in action 93 6 Public service professionals and the New Public Management: control of the professions in the public services 95 JANE BROADBENT AND RICHARD LAUGHLIN 7 The New Public Management and social exclusion: cause or response? 109 MARILYN TAYLOR 8 Best Value: New Public Management or new direction? 129 STEVE MARTIN 9 New Public Management and social justice: just efficiency or equity as well? 141 JENNY HARROW PART 111 The New Public Management in comparative context 161 10 The New Public Management: a perspective from mainland Europe 163 KUNO SCHEDLER AND ISABELLA PROELLER 11 New Public Management, North American style 181 SANDFORD BORINS 12 Australia, the New Public Management and the new millennium 195 PETER CARROLL AND PETER STEANE 13 The New Public Management: a perspective from Africa 210 KEMPE RONALD HOPE SR 14 New Public Management in developing countries 227 WILLY MCCOURT 15 The politics of New Public Management: some experience from reforms in East Asia 243 ANTHONY B.L. CHEUNG Contents ix 16 The New Public Management in international perspective: an analysis of impacts and effects 274 CHRISTOPHER POLLITT PART IV Researching the New Public Management 293 17 The New Public Management: an action research approach 295 CHRIS HUXHAM 18 Organizational research and the New Public Management: the turn to qualitative methods 311 EWAN FERLIE AND ANNABELLE MARK 19 Researching the New Public Management: the role of quantitative methods 324 GEORGE BOYNE PART V Conclusions 339 20 The sustainability of the New Public Management in the UK 341 EWAN FERLIE AND LOUISE FITZGERALD Index 354 Contributors Michael Barzelay is in the Interdisciplinary Institute of Management at the LSE, London, UK. Sandford Borins is at the University of Toronto, Canada. George Boyne is at Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, UK. Jane Broadbent is at Royal Holloway College, London, UK. Peter Carroll is at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Anthony B.L. Cheung is in the Department of Public Administration at the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR. Charlotte Dargie is at the Judge Institute of Management, University of Cambridge, UK. Sandra Dawson is at the Judge Institute of Management, University of Cambridge, UK. Ewan Ferlie is at Imperial College Management School, London, UK. Louise Fitzgerald is at De Montfort University, UK. Norman Flynn is in the Public Services Management Unit at the LSE, London, UK. Jenny Harrow is at South Bank University, UK. Chris Huxham is at Strathclyde Business School, Strathclyde University, UK. Kempe Ronald Hope Sr is at the University of Botswana, Botswana. Richard Laughlin is at Kings College, London, UK. Willy McCourt is in the Institute for Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester, UK. Kate McLaughlin is in the School of Public Policy at the University of Birmingham, UK. Annabelle Mark is at Middlesex University, London, UK. Contributors xi Steve Martin is at Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, UK. Janet Newman is in the School of Public Policy at the University of Birmingham, UK. Stephen P. Osborne is at Aston Business School, Aston University, UK. Christopher Pollitt is in the Department of Public Administration at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Isabella Proeller is at the University of St Gallen, Switzerland. Kuno Schedler is at the University of St Gallen, Switzerland. Peter Steane is at Macquarie University, Australia. Marilyn Taylor is at the University of Brighton, UK. Acknowledgements The genesis of this book was in an ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) seminar series which examined the development and critique of the New Public Management paradigm. Many of the chapters are developments of presentations at these seminars. Our thanks are expressed to the ESRC for its support. The chapter by Sandra Dawson and Charlotte Dargie is a development of a paper of the same name which appeared in Public Management Review (previously Public Management) (1, 4): 459–482. The chapter by Christopher Pollitt is a development of a paper entitled ‘Is the emperor in his underwear?’, which appeared in Public Management Review (previously Public Management) (2, 2): 181–200. The chapter by Stephen P. Osborne and Kate McLaughlin is an abridged revision of the introductory essay of Critical Perspectives in Public Management (Volume 1) to be published by Routledge in 2002. Finally, our thanks go to Francesca Lumkin and all her colleagues at Routledge for their support of this project. Current trends and future prospects of public management A guide Kate McLaughlin and Stephen P. Osborne The UK has played a pivotal role in the development of the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm – and can arguably claim to have been its ‘birthplace’. Indeed, the seminal paper which coined the term the NPM was the product of the UK experience (Hood 1991) – though the work in the US by Osborne and Gaebler (1992) was also important. However, the impact of the NPM has spread far beyond this narrow focus and it has become one of the dominant paradigms for public management across the world, and in particular in North America, Australasia and the Pacific Rim (Flynn and Strehl 1995; Boston et al. 1996; Kettl 2000; Pollitt and Bouckaert 2000; McCourt and Minogue 2001; Osborne 2002). Both the World Bank and the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) are also now keen advocates of NPM reforms across the world (for example, OECD 1995). Given the centrality, both of the NPM to the management of public services across the world and of the UK experience to its development, now is a good time to evaluate the nature and impact of the NPM in the UK and internationally. This is particularly so given current reforms across the world, such as the ‘modernising government’ agenda that the current Labour government is committed to in the UK and the programme of government reform embarked upon by the George Bush administration in the US.