This thesis is a philosophical study of New Public Management (NPM). NPM is a theme used within the mainstream public management literature to explain and critically evaluate the changes that occurred within the public sector since the 1990s. In this study, I aim to develop the argument that there is a crisis in the public sector that results from the NPM regime. To develop this argument, I draw upon the Aristotelian philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre and identify two distinct spheres of the public sector: practices and institutions. I then argue that NPM generates a certain type of conflict between these two spheres of the public sector. This is a conflict that is related, first, to different and rival presuppositions of practices and institutions, regarding the good of human beings, and then, to the power relationships that are introduced to the public sector through new management methods of NPM. These new management methods assert power over the practices through redefining the meaning of quality and good performance in a way that is contrary to the meanings attached to them by the practitioners. Practitioners in turn resist to this process and conflict with the institutions. The conflict turns into a crisis because the conflict can only be resolved, if either the NPM is removed from the public sector or practices cease to exist in the way that MacIntyre understands them.

A research report submitted In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce (Accounting), University of the Witwatersrand / The success of public sector accountancy reform as part of the ‘new public management’ is dependent on the common goals of all stakeholders. This research applies new institutionalism to understand the isomorphic pressures being exerted by accounting professionals and international organisations on government agencies to drive these reforms. It analyses the preferences of different stakeholder groups to the opposing doctrines of new public management and progressive public administration. These preferences were analysed through a content analysis of the comments letters submitted to the IPSASB during their recent conceptual framework project. Accounting professionals were found to be motivated by normative and mimetic isomorphism to bring about institutional change under the themes of private sector mimicry, inter-generational equity and performance focused reporting. They were strongly motivated to lobby for these changes by their own self-interest. Government agencies showed a resistance to these changes. Their self-interest reduced the level to which they were influenced by isomorphic pressures. Such resistance was strongest in Canada but weakest in Australia and the United Kingdom. No conclusions could be reached on the role of international organisations in supporting institutional change. / MT2017

Competition between the voluntary sector and across sectors has, over the years, intensified. As a result, a growing body of literature urge the voluntary sector organisations (VSOs) to adopt the best practices of the private sector, in order to demonstrate professionalism, win contracts and increase organisational survival. Such advocates assume the generic character of private-sector management practices and inherent structural similarities between organisations in both the voluntary and private sectors. However, if a VSO is to adopt the private sector practices to be able to more effectively compete, demonstrate effectiveness and continuous improvement, how would that impact on that VSO's effectiveness? Not much is known about the inner intricacies of VSOs experiencing drastic competitive pressures and having to adapt to ensure organisational survival. This study set out to evaluate the impact of such competitive pressures and the organisations' adaptive strategies on the VSOs' effectiveness. The study has taken on and challenged the market driven notion that the efficiency of markets and the value of competition should underpin the strategy for improving VSO's effectiveness and the delivery of public services. The researcher sought theoretical models that could provide an understanding of how social processes would determine the efficacy of VSOs in such a competitive environment. The neo-institutional and the resource dependence theories were preferred, enabling the study to predict the possible organisational behaviours; under competitive pressures. As result, five testable propositions were developed, based on the key institutional differences between the voluntary and the private sectors. The study then adopted a longitudinal comparative case study research method to test the propositions. Three case study organisations were selected, based on their sources of income, provisions and characteristics of organisations where change had occasioned concern amongst stakeholders. From an insider perspective, with at least two of the case organisations, the overall context of the pressures leading to adaptation at the three case study organisations was shaped by changes in the delivery of public services. Using a variety of qualitative data collection methods, a wide range of data was collected, triangulated and analysed. The study also drew on the long term professional and practical work experience of the researcher as a senior practicing manager within the voluntary sector, and as a reflective scholar-practitioner. The findings reveal that, as a result of competitive pressures, VSOs have to adapt to ensure organisational survival. Although this may be of some immediate benefits to the organisations, such adaptive strategies lead to goals and mission drifts; erode organisational independence and legitimacy; weaken democratic accountability and reduce wider participation. It reduces voluntarism, informality and diversity, and erodes the VSOs' traditional values and ethos. This has wider implications for the individual voluntary sector organisations, sector leaders and the public sector seeking to maximise the value of service delivery by the voluntary sector, and those advocating, indiscriminately, the adoption of private sector practices, as a strategy for improving voluntary sector effectiveness. The study provides an understanding of VSOs' organisational behaviours under competitive pressures, and the transformational effect that such competitive pressures may have on an organisation's distinctive capabilities.

The Irish Nonprofit Voluntary and Community Sector (NPVCS) is a growing and critical part of the socio-economy. However, there is a lack of understanding of the dynamics of change in this third sector which merits investigation. This study explores such change, particularly around work and people management at a time of unprecedented turmoil in the macro environment and in the institutional and policy landscape. One of the biggest catalysts for change has stemmed from New Public Management (NPM), which has infiltrated the sector through the sector’s growing dependence on the State for funding and service contracts. Empirically, this creates the warrant for the study which explores the dynamics of this change in the neglected context of the Irish NPVCS. Theoretically, the study expands our understanding of the NPM construct under austerity. The study gives a nuanced picture of the realities and contradictions of a sector in transition from a traditionally benevolent model of a charity to that of a commercial like business, whilst still trying to retain and uphold its original values, ethos and mission. There is a paucity of research on work and HRM in the Irish NPVCS and this study addresses the knowledge gap by exploring the nature and extent of NPM inspired change via a theoretical framework which includes environment-organisation analysis, institutional, resource dependency and strategic choice theories. The employee perception and reaction to such NPM inspired change is captured via the developmentof a unique conceptual framework that incorporates the psychological contact, commitment and OCB. This model tests the employee reaction to NPM inspired change through a number of research hypotheses, while the moderating effect of the voluntary sector ethos (VSE) is examined to determine its presence and impact. This empirical study pursued a mixed method, multi-level inquiry in two case study organisations in the Irish Physical and Sensory Disability (PSD) sub-sector using qualitative interviews and an on-line survey instrument. The findings indicate that both case study organisations have experienced significant NPM inspired change. This ha shad a strategic, operational and cultural impact on both organisations, particularly in how they manage work and people, which is consistent with the extant literature. Surprisingly, the employee perception and reaction to such change has been mixed but remains relatively positive on a number of barometers, with the proffered explanation partially residing in the VSE and partially in the collective solidarity of a sector and nation in crisis survival mode. The adoption of NPM change by choice and by necessity has been a moderated process in which both organisations to varying degrees, have still managed to retain and preserve core elements of their VSE and values but not without some tensions and contradictions. The outcomes of this research have lessons for practitioners, leaders and policy makers in the sector and in HR and signals fertile areas that warrant future academic research.

This thesis examines the nature of ‘gaming’ in the police service and the extent to which it distorts policing priorities and performance measures. Performance Management, which formed an integral part of New Public Management, was introduced gradually to the police service in England and Wales during the 1990s. The Police and Magistrates Court Act 1994 gave Chief Officers of Police greater freedom on how they spent their budget allocation but there was an expectation that this would result in increased efficiency and improved performance. The Police Reform Act 2002 continued this trend by empowering the Home Secretary to set annual performance targets which the Police Service was expected to deliver. Performance management systems provided the means by which efficiency could be measured thus enabling central government to exert pressure on police forces to improve performance in the areas prioritised. However, for such improvements to be real, not just illusory, it was necessary to ensure the dysfunctional effects of ‘gaming’ behaviour were guarded against. Controlling such behaviour presents a challenge for those responsible for the regulation and governance of the service. This thesis examines the impact of Performance Management on ‘gaming’ behaviour and vice versa within the police service. It identifies and presents evidence on the nature and extent of ‘gaming’ and its impact on police behaviour. The limited effectiveness of the regulatory bodies in addressing ‘gaming’ are also reviewed and inadequacies, both strategic and operational, identified.

This work is an endeavour on the subject of the Critical Success Factors imposed by Human Resources, in the process of reforms, under the context of New Public Management, particularly, as this applies in the Greek Public Sector and more specifically in the cases of ISO implementation. The fundamental issues it attempts to elucidate are the Human Resources policies that must be applied, so that employees become an integral element for the successful implementation of any introduced reforms. Many scholars have pointed out the gap in literature regarding the effect of New Public Management (NPM) reforms on the human factor. Moreover, in the current Greek reality, in the context of the economic recession and the debt crisis, where public administration reforms are mandatory, the thorough examination of the vital issues, pertaining to Human Resources, consists a major priority. The qualitative research method applied with the employees of the reformed organisations has further aspired to ponder and determine what really matters during the transformational process from the employees’ point of view. The conclusions we have reached underpin the importance of Human Resources motivational factors in the reform process, taking into consideration that the employee is the catalyst for any change effort. Some of those factors were found to be also part of the ISO concept per se, thus, their implementation would boost the employees’ morale, while others must be carefully analysed, planned and implemented by all the stakeholders to further facilitate the change process. We have to bear in mind that, especially under the current dire economic environment, quality reforms could be a challenge, as they combine fiscal discipline and at the same time aspire to increase the employees’ and citizens’ satisfaction. This study goes further to suggest that, the implementation of ISO reforms could help all the participants, provided that the decision makers take into serious consideration the Critical Success Factors outlined herewith, that have been extracted from a survey conducted pertinent to our research. This study focused on the reforms/ISO process as implemented by the Intermediate Managing Authority of the Ionian Islands. Further research on the implications from the implementation of NMP doctrines on Human Resources should be conducted in other Greek governmental organisations, in order to reaffirm the results and possibly enhance the suggested model. Conclusively, our ultimate target is to assist decision makers and encourage them to utilise the arguments depicted, towards the successful implementation of NPM doctrines.

The central objective of this thesis is to investigate, understand and explain the conditions under which the administrative problem known as potentially avoidable failure induced demand (PAFID) arises in UK public services and might be prevented. PAFID is defined as “customer contacts that appear to be precipitated by earlier failures, such as failures to do things right first time, which cause additional and potentially avoidable demands to impinge upon public services”. A secondary objective of the thesis is to establish how, and under what better conditions, the public sector could successfully exploit the management paradigm called Lean thinking, as an alternative to the current New Public Management method, in order to address the PAFID problem. An analysis of the results from three case-studies conducted in UK local authority settings confirms that nearly half of all customer contacts in high-volume services such as housing benefits are potentially avoidable. The extrapolation of this finding to the contact volumes and handling costs in one UK council alone suggests possible savings of more than £1 million a year. The potential benefits that are available to the case-study councils and nearly 500 other local councils, together with numerous other providers of UK public services, are also very substantial. A variety of conceptual lenses are applied to the PAFID problem in order to generate alternative explanations and policy options. This thesis makes a number of contributions to public sector management theory and practice, including the finding that councils might reduce principal-agent problems that add to PAFID by espousing more supportive and enabling environments, and by adopting systems-oriented approaches that acknowledge the complex and subjective nature of real-world problems. The findings also suggest that, while the deployment of Lean ‘tools' can result in short-term savings and performance improvements, the adoption of Lean thinking as a comprehensive management approach is more likely to bring about fundamental changes.

In developing countries healthcare reforms are increasingly advocated and implemented in association with global developmental agendas. This thesis analyses the process of health sector reforms in Punjab by looking at the reform drivers, strategies and implementation and examines the elite motivation to reform. Responding to the empirical gap, one underlying objective is to map health sector reforms in Punjab at the primary and secondary level health facilities with respect to drivers, content, design and implementation. Bureaucrats and administrative elite hold a central role in the design and implementation of public management reforms, but in the context of developing countries with political instability and chronic budget deficits; it evaluates how the bureaucratic elites adopt, design and implement reforms. An abductive research approach is used, to investigate Punjab as a case study of health sector reforms at the primary and secondary level health facilities. The organisational context of the study enables the investigation of seven health reform programmes in Punjab, managed and implemented at the provincial and district level. The central argument of the thesis is that the process of reforms in developing countries is a political one. Administrative elites, central to the design and implementation of reforms tend to focus more on the reform trajectory and “what” to implement, and underemphasise implementation. Using data from an in-depth case study of Punjab with two embedded subunits of Lahore and Kasur selected on the basis of urban and rural demographics, this research triangulates between different datasets (bureaucracy, professionals, staff and service users) and documentary sources such as reports, documents, legislation etc. in addition to locating findings and arguments in public management, as a field of literature. The study provides evidence that devolution and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals largely drive health care reform in Punjab. Both reform and development agendas are funded by financial assistance from international financial institutions and donor organisations, and the implementation is top-down with little or no engagement with professionals, staff and service users. There is lack of motivational engagement with professionals and staff, who have no input in decision-making. The reform process lacks citizen engagement (ignorant service user) and accountability from the citizens. The adoption of reform agenda is highly driven by the fact that reforms consistent with global development agendas like UNMDGs bring in funds and resources in economically unstable environment faced by the country in general. Findings suggest that the reform process in developing countries needs to be understood in a much broader context and needs to incorporate the role international organisations play in determining the reform agenda. Reform adoption is highly dependent on the political activity and motivations of the administrative elites. Firstly, the existing models of reform are inadequate and focus on the institutional forces, rather than the individual motivations of the policy makers. Secondly, developing countries facing fiscal and economic stresses as well as unstable political institutions suffer from a skewed power imbalance where the power is concentrated in elites that results in a self-serving bureaucracy. This study contributed to the literature on reform process in developing countries by suggesting implications for research on reforms in the developing world, which includes the political and tactical motivation of the key actors in the reform process.

Implementing public sector reform in Nigeria is complex. Although government effectiveness is important for citizens' welfare, little evidence links management practices for effective public service delivery for low-income populations in developing countries. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore views of public agency managers in Nigeria on putting progressive interventions into practice to improve public services and change social outcomes for this population. The conceptual framework of the proposed study was path dependency, defined as increasing returns, positive feedback, or self-reinforcing processes, which are significant in understanding the challenges of formal and intentional reform programs. Seven agency managers recruited from the Nigerian public sector completed semistructured interviews to give their perspectives to address the following research question: "What are the views of public agency managers in Nigeria, assigned agents of NPM reform, on implementing path-breaking interventions within their agencies to improve services and change social outcomes for the low-income population?" I used NvIVO software to develop the splitting up of common codes, phrases, and words in the responses of the participants. Fifteen themes were presented, including the categories of corruption, nepotism, marginalization, and poor service delivery to low-income populations in Nigeria. Social change for the low-income population in Nigeria can only be realized when local NPM managers themselves can have a voice in Nigeria's national conversation on implementing effective interventions to improve services and change social outcomes.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2006 / The main objective of the study was to scrutinize the difficulties that confront the recruitment and selection processes at provincial government level, which recruitment processes are required to be in conformity with national and provincial policies. Furthermore, the study will also endeavor to answer questions on problems emanating from the recruitment and selection of public managers since 27 April 1994. The population selected for purposes of this study was that of the management team of the Department of Public Works in the Limpopo Province. The population consisted of 281 management officials. A proportional stratified random sampling design was used for obtaining a sample, with head office and the six district offices forming the different stratas. 14% of managers in all stratas were taken as a sample. The data was collected using questionnaires and interviews, followed by the collection of selected government reports with appropriate data. In the case of interviews, the following three methods were iv used, namely, non-scheduled interviews, non-scheduled structured interviews and scheduled structured interviews. The study revealed that in the Department of Public Works:  There was a sustained or uncontrollable movement of managers hopping in and out of the department. This was exacerbated by the lack of a retention strategy for controlling this problem. As a result, the cream of the department’s most resourceful managers was lost.  The recruitment and selection processes in the department of Public Works were inappropriately guided due to a lack of proper planning. As a direct result thereof, the wrong managers were recruited.  The internal source was preferred over the external source in conducting the recruitment and selection processes. This limited the opportunities of employing the correct managers.  There have been biases in that the recruitment and selection processes were manipulated in order to benefit certain individuals v at the expense of others. This has had a negative impact on the morale of the rest of the staff. In view of the findings of this study, it is recommended that further research on a broader scope is imperative, with the population consisting of the entire management in the Limpopo Provincial Government. The purpose of such research should be to determine the extent to which the recruitment and selection of managers were impacting on service delivery, which is critical to the welfare of the Limpopo society in particular, and the South African society in general.