Public Management in the 1980s and Beyond

Abstract

Critics of public management lament government's failure to use more businesslike methods. This criticism implies that the private sector is better managed than the public sector. Although this is not always the case, there are many techniques that have proved successful in the private sector that can be applied to public management problems. Public management traditions are changing. More sophisticated measures of program effectiveness are being developed. Some aspects of competition can be harnessed for better public management. Public managers are increasingly aware of such techniques and have used them when there has been political support. Under conditions of fiscal stress, for example, political forces have sometimes encouraged managers to use the spirit of budget reforms rather than just the rationalistic facade of such reforms. New public management techniques will be used only if political support for the consequences of these techniques can be mobilized.

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References

1. Robert N. Anthony , “Can Nonprofit Organizations Be Well Managed?” in Managing Nonprofit Organizations, eds. Diane Borst and Patrick J. Montana (New York: Amacom, 1977), pp. 7-8. Anthony presents these features in different order. I have moved “tradition” from fifth place to first.

2. Quoted in Joseph L. Bower, “Effective Public Management,” Harvard Business Review, 55(2):132 (Mar.-Apr. 1977).

3. A. E. Buck , quoted by Luther H. Gulick, “Notes on the Theory of Organization,” in Papers on the Science of Administration, eds. Luther H. Gulick and Lyndall Urwick (New York: Institute of Public Administration, 1937); reprinted in Perspectives on Public Bureaucracy, 3rd ed., ed. Fred A. Kramer (Cambridge, MA: Winthrop, 1981), p. 71.

See also two symposium issues of the Public Administration Review, 37(6) (Nov.-Dec. 1977), and 38(2) (Mar.-Apr. 1978).

5. Peter F. Drucker , “The Deadly Sins in Public Administration,” Public Administration Review, 40(2):103-106 (Mar.-Apr. 1980).

See Joseph S. Wholey , Zero-Base Budgeting and Program Evaluation (Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1979). The press often reports instances of pilot programs.

7. Robert H. Hayes and William J. Abernathy , “Managing Our Way to Economic Decline,” Harvard Business Review, 58(4):67-77 (July-Aug. 1980).

8. George S. Odiorne , Personnel Management by Objectives (Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press, 1971), p. 119.

9. A Government Accounting Office study of productivity measures in 1971 reported that half the work done in government was susceptible to output or impact measurement. Thomas D. Morris , William H. Corbett , and Brian L. Usilaner , “Productivity Measures in the Federal Government,” Public Administration Review, 32(6):755 (Nov.-Dec. 1972).

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10. Harry P. Hatry et al. , How Effective Are Your Community Services? (Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 1977).

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11. Harry P. Hatry , “Issues in Productivity Measurement for Local Government,” Public Administration Review, 32(6):777-778 (Nov.-Dec. 1972).

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12. For an interesting survey of some management problems involving computerized information systems, see Alena Northrop , William H. Dutton , and Kenneth L. Kraemer , “Management of Computer Applications in Local Government,” Public Administration Review, 42(3):234-243 (May-June 1982).

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13. National Council on Governmental Accounting , Statement 1: Governmental Accounting and Financial Reporting Principles (Chicago: Municipal Finance Officers Association, 1979).

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14. E. S. Savas , Privatizing the Public Sector: How to Shrink Government (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1982).

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15. John M. Greiner et al. , Productivity and Motivation (Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 1981), pp. 95-105.

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16. For examples of some negative consequences of intraorganizational competition, see Heywood Klein , “Pitting Workers Against Each Other Often Backfires, Firms Are Finding,” Wall Street Journal, 15 July 1982, p. 33.

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17. Aaron B. Wildavsky , “Budgeting as a Political Process,” in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. David L. Sills (New York: Crowell Collier and Macmillan, 1968), 2: 195.

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reprinted in Current Issues in Public Administration, 2nd ed., ed. Frederick S. Lane (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982), pp. 349-350.

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19. Quoted in William Greiner, “The Education of David Stockman,” Atlantic Monthly, 248(6):38 (Dec. 1981).

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20. Charles H. Levine , “More on Cutback Management: Hard Questions for Hard Times,” Public Administration Review, 39(2):180 (Mar.-Apr. 1979).

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21. Ibid., p. 181.

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22. John M. Gaus , Reflections on Public Administration (University: University of Alabama Press, 1947), p. 10.