The impact of new public management on the Australian Public Service
On 6 August 2008, the Australian National University published a paper by Kathy MacDermott (Whatever happened to frank and fearless? The impact of new public management on the Australian Public Service) which considers the New Public Management reforms introduced in Australia in the 1980s and 1990s, questioning how some have been applied in practice and how they have cumulatively re-positioned public servants and their relationship with the political arm of government.
The paper argues that a number of the core ‘traditional’ principles of public administration that have applied in Australian government have been compromised as a consequence of the New Public Management reforms. It acknowledges that the formal intention of these reforms was to introduce new disciplines to the public service, making it more efficient, effective and responsive to government. However, the paper suggests that, over time, some of these disciplines have been ratcheted up to the point where responsiveness tips into complicity.
The paper considers:
- the extent to which contestability of policy advice is improving the contest for ideas or enhancing the ability of governments to find the advice they want;
- the extent to which performance management is improving organisational performance or reinforcing pressure to conform;
- the extent to which devolution has enhanced flexibility to deliver better results or has involved a trade-off between policy influence and managerial control, with public servants subject to closer direction by both managers and by ministerial advisers and ministers;
- the extent to which workforce reforms in the public sector have increased flexibility and enhanced employees’ capacity to identify with and contribute to organisational objectives, or have disempowered employees, discouraged teamwork and reduced innovation and professional autonomy;
- the extent to which outsourcing has improved efficiency and effectiveness through competition or has undermined altruism and concern for the public interest both within the public service and amongst the non-government sector.
Whatever happened to frank and fearless? The impact of new public management on the Australian Public Service
