"New Public Management (NPM) is an approach to running public service organizations that is used in government and public service institutions and agencies, at both sub-national and national levels."
It combines the principles of public choice theory with the ideas of new public management to create a more efficient and effective public sector.
Public administration: The study of how government policies are implemented and how public organizations operate.
Governance: The process of decision-making and the system of power relations in society, and how these relate to public organizations.
Bureaucracy: The structure of public organizations and the principles of hierarchy, specialization, and standardization.
Privatization: The transfer of public services and assets to private ownership and operation.
Performance measurement: The use of data to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of public programs and organizations.
Contracting: The use of contracts to purchase goods and services from private firms rather than producing them in-house.
Accountability: The system of checks and balances, transparency, and oversight that ensures public officials are held responsible for their actions.
Stakeholder engagement: The involvement of citizens, interest groups, and other stakeholders in decision-making processes.
Public finance: The management of public resources including budgeting, taxation, and debt management.
Political economy: The study of the relationship between politics and economics, and how public policies are influenced by economic interests and power relations.
Marketization: Introducing market principles into public sector organisations, with the aim of improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness by increasing competition.
Decentralization: Transferring decision-making powers and responsibilities from central government authorities to local authorities.
Performance Management: A management philosophy focused on achieving clear and measurable objectives.
Privatization: Transferring public services, assets, and resources to the private sector.
Human Resource Management: Focused on recruiting, retaining, and developing talent in the public sector.
Rational Choice Theory: This approach posits that individuals are rational actors who make decisions based on a cost-benefit analysis of the options available to them.
Public Choice Theory: This theory applies the rational choice model to the study of political decision-making, arguing that political actors act out of self-interest rather than a desire to achieve the public good.
Principal-Agent Theory: This theory seeks to explain the problems that arise when one party (the principal) hires another party (the agent) to act on their behalf.
Transaction Cost Theory: This approach posits that the costs associated with making decisions and implementing policies in complex organizations increase with the size and complexity of the organization.
Institutionalism: This theory asserts that institutions mediate the interactions between individuals and groups, shaping their behavior and influencing their choices.
"...to make the public service more 'businesslike' and to improve its efficiency by using private sector management models."
"NPM reforms often focused on the 'centrality of citizens who were the recipient of the services or customers to the public sector.'"
"NPM reformers experimented with using decentralized service delivery models, to give local agencies more freedom in how they delivered programs or services."
"In some cases, NPM reforms that used e-government consolidated a program or service to a central location to reduce costs."
"Some governments tried using quasi-market structures, so that the public sector would have to compete against the private sector (notably in the UK, in health care)."
"Key themes in NPM were 'financial control, value for money, increasing efficiency ..., identifying and setting targets and continuous monitoring of performance, handing over ... power to the senior management' executives."
"Performance was assessed with audits, benchmarks, and performance evaluations."
"Some NPM reforms used private sector companies to deliver what were formerly public services."
"NPM advocates in some countries worked to remove 'collective agreements [in favor of] ... individual rewards packages at senior levels combined with short term contracts' and introduce private sector-style corporate governance."
"NPM approaches have been used in many countries around the world, NPM is particularly associated with the most industrialized OECD nations such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States of America."
"NPM advocates focus on using approaches from the private sector – the corporate or business world–which can be successfully applied in the public sector and in a public administration context."
"In NPM, citizens are viewed as 'customers' and public servants are viewed as public managers."
"NPM tries to realign the relationship between public service managers and their political superiors by making a parallel relationship between the two."
"Under NPM, public managers have incentive-based motivation such as pay-for-performance, and clear performance targets are often set, which are assessed by using performance evaluations."
"This NPM approach is contrasted with the traditional public administration model, in which institutional decision-making, policy-making, and public service delivery are guided by regulations, legislation, and administrative procedures."
"NPM reforms use approaches such as disaggregation, customer satisfaction initiatives, customer service efforts, applying an entrepreneurial spirit to public service, and introducing innovations."
"The NPM system allows 'the expert manager to have greater discretion'."
"Public Managers under the New Public Management reforms can provide a range of choices from which customers can choose, including the right to opt out of the service delivery system completely."
"NPM reforms often focused on the 'centrality of citizens who were the recipient of the services or customers to the public sector'."