Public Administration

Please answer question number 1 and question number 2 in TWO SEPERATE paragraphs: Question 1:The new public management (NPM) was an important development in public administration, because it rejected many long-held beliefs about how public services should be organized. Fundamentally, it suggests the public sector should be made to look more like the private sector, on the assumption that private sector organizations are better run. This also reflects an assumption that there is nothing fundamentally distinct about the public sector: for advocates of NPM, the term public just refers to a service owned and run by government, not a distinctive set of values and goals, such as the public good . In fact, some advocates of NPM reject the notion of the public good ¨C they think public servants are all self interested, and citizens are the same. To pursue this line of reasoning, talking about serving the public good masks the real underlying motives of citizens and public servants, which is to further their own self interests. To kick off this week's discussion, let's bring this issue home and discuss the following question: Can you identify specific instances in which the BC or federal government has brought about administrative reforms or policies which resemble NPM, and to what extent could these current governments be considered to be following a NPM administrative style? Next, you should think about some of the benefits and drawbacks of NPM. I also want you to discuss the following fundamental question: can we run public services like private corporations? Or another way of asking this is: if we import all the techniques of private sector business into the public sector, will this make public administration more effective and efficient? Question 2: We've got a range of topics to cover, but we need to start with one of the most important subjects of this course - The New Public Management. My first series of questions is about this subject. What do you understand NPM to involve? Why is it sometimes referred to as "managerialism"? How, if at all, does it differ from Weber's model of bureaucracy? Why did it arise at the time it did? As with other iscussions in the course, the objective is to encourage you to integrate the various elements of public administration you have examined to date into an overall understanding of..."Public Administration in Canada" In this discussion therefore we are focusing on New Public Management as vehicle to review our understanding of NPM itself, the role of interest groups public administration, and the challenges and complexities of policy making. Tying these three areas together is logical, as NPM is, in part, a response to the concerns of interest groups and has an impact on the evolution of the policy process.