compare public service management with private sector management
The emergence of the New Public Management theories were born out of frustration at the way in which public services have traditionally been managed. ... In this respect, an attempt was made to implement business procedures into the public service environment in order to alleviate these problems. However, to do this is to assume that management is generic, and that practices are wholly transferable between sectors. It is therefore important to examine the public sector, look at its development from public administration, and compare it against the management of a private sector. It is only then that we will know if the practices are similar, and whether the differences are beneficial, or whether something can be learnt from the private sector. From this, we will be able to establish whether the practice of management is generic. Before we consider the different forms of public management that have been adopted throughout the years, we will briefly examine the general objectives of both sectors, something which will be expanded upon later. ... Private organisations are established for market purposes or welfare purposes, they vary in size and they are accountable to their owners. ... Public organisations, in contrast, are created by governments to provide crucial services for the public. ... Managers are accountable not only to the public, but to government as well. ... Obviously, there is a public need for the provision of certain public services, which the government are required to fund. These services are generally considered as areas of such public interest, that they should be managed centrally, as opposed to being provided by the private sector. If this is to be appropriate, however, they need to be effectively managed, to ensure the public feel their money is being well spent. Many models of public service management have been tried, but since the 1980’s, there has been a major change, moving away from the public administration view. ... Whereas the private sector opts for a more decentralised and flexible structure, the public services adopted bureaucratic ideas making the system rigid, centralised, which ultimately withdrew the power away from the ‘manager’. Naturally, the classical school can’t be mentioned without a mention for Frederick Taylor’s scientific management. This prescribes an optimum way of managing, a theory which was applied to the public sector. ... In the late 1960’s, it was felt that this way of management of the public sector was becoming outdated and that is was lagging behind the more successful private sector. ... This was first attempted by the Conservative government of the early 1980’s, as public administration was replaced by New Public Management. This started with the introduction of private sector techniques into the public sector environment. Lord Rayner was introduced to try to facilitate solutions to public organisation problems and ways for the government to become more economically viable. This idea allowed a new perspective on management to be implemented. New Public Management had its critics, as many believed it was trying to achieve the impossible due to the fact they believed the private sector was so different that generic principles are doomed to failure. However, others such as Pollitt (1990) believe that New Public Management, “provides a label under which private sector disciplines can be introduced to the public services”, which would in turn, “flush out the natural inefficiencies of bureaucracy”. They believe this was achieved by becoming more rational in their approach, by providing objectives and performance management systems, including the use of performance indicators, something which strongly imitates the business environment. This, “shift from particularist management to generic management” (Farnham and Horton) is characterised by four changes. The first of these is that public management is seeing an influx of general managers, as opposed to the specialist managers or professionals. Secondly, the problem driven public sector is being replaced by a more objective driven approach, which allows self evaluation. ... Finally, these managers see the public as their primary concern, rather than their own staff.