THE ENVIRONMENT

OF PUBLIC
MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER 2
 LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this topic, students should be

able to:
1.Describe the environment of public
management
2.Explain the positive values and attitudes
at work.
 2.1 MANAGERIAL
PROGRAMS OF NPM
1-public managers have more autonomy
to manage financial and personnel
resources with accountability.
2- the government focuses on measuring
performance through the establishment
of goals, target and indicators which
can be quantitatively measured.
3- control over output is increased, with
an emphasis on the results achieved
rather than process involved. Resource
allocation and reward are also linked to
measured performance. 3
4- there will be purchaser and provider
distinctions through the separation of functions
into a quasi-market form. The purchaser and
the provider distinctions can be within the
government or between the government and
the private sectors. The purchaser is the party
who decides what will be produced and the
provider is the party who delivers
The agreed outputs and outcomes.

4
5- the government emphasises
competition among public agencies
through tendering processes, and this
could help to lower costs and to
increase standards. Moreover,
contracting out is increasingly adopted
as a management tool, especially
where a complete market solution or
outright privatisation cannot be
employed. It is also regarded as a
market-type mechanism used to foster
competition between private and
voluntary sector organisations for the
provision of services.
6- private sector management
techniques and practices such as
performance agreement system are
implemented in the public sector in
order to increase management’s ability
to hire, fire, and reward public servants. 5
7- economies in resource utilisation
and cost-cutting such as downsizing
programs are emphasised by the
government in order to reduce or be
more efficient with its expenditure.
-It is claimed by academic
commentators that outcomes of the
shift to these seven key elements of
NPM should be increased
accountability, greater transparency
and improved efficiency in the
public sector.

6
2.2 THE EMPHASIS OF NPM
-strand of ideas emphasises managerial improvement and restructuring
which includes decentralisation, disaggregation, and downsizing.
-another strand, NPM as ‘a good managerial approach’, contending that
a good managerial approach is result-oriented (efficiency, effectiveness,
and service quality).
- NPM is intended to improve the quality of public services, save public
expenditure, improve the efficiency of governmental operations, and make
policy implementation more effective.
- NPM replaces highly centralised hierarchical organisation structures with
decentralised management because NPM involves restructuring and
reducing the size of the public sector including reorganising and slimming
down central civil services

7
The other strand of NPM ideas emphasises markets and
competition which include contracting out and adopting
private sector styles of management practice.
-Here, NPM can be defined as a set of particular
management approaches and techniques which are
mainly borrowed from the private sector and applied in
the public sector.
-ideology based on belief in the efficacy of markets and
competition, and business-like management ideas and
practices.
-It is about replacement of public services by private ones,
and the creation of an entrepreneurial and user-oriented
culture within public organisations.
-More recently, NPM involves the use of market or
market-like mechanisms for the delivery of public services
(including privatisation, contracting out, and the
development of internal markets).
-NPM has been evident in contracting out, a variant of the
purchaser-provider type of relationship. To illustrate the
point, government services can be provided by contract.

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2.3 NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
CRITICICMS
While ideas about NPM have spread internationally and many
countries have introduced reforms associated with it, a number of
criticisms have been levelled at it.

1-The first criticism of NPM involves a paradox of centralisation

through decentralisation.
Many scholars point out that giving public managers more authority to
manage programs may result in concentrating decisions making in them.
Thus, NPM may lead to centralised decision making by public
managers, rather than encouraging decentralisation in public
organisations as it claims.

9
2- Second criticism concerns applying
private sector management techniques to
the public sector. While NPM has
encouraged the use of private sector
management techniques, there may be risk
associated with adopting some private sector
practices.
Many argue that most areas of public service
and administration have distinct political,
ethical, constitutional, and social dimensions,
and these factors make the public sector
different from the private sector.
Some argue that NPM is basically flawed
because private sector management practices
are rarely adopted into government
operations. For them, NPM is inappropriate
for the public sector as it has more complex
objectives, more intricate accountabilities, and
a more turbulent political environment than
the private sector. Moreover, the relationship
between public sector managers and political
leaders is of a different order to any
relationships in the private sector.
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3- General criticism of NPM involves ethical issues. It is argued by Hughes
(2003:68) that:

Perhaps the new managerialism [NPM] offers greater

transparency so that unethical or corrupt behaviour can be
detected more easily; the greater stress on measurable
performance may impose its own kind of behavioural standard.
Perhaps managers can be inculcated with the ethical standards
common in the old model”.

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Even though NPM provides transparency for the public sector, it can nonetheless
lead to corrupt practices. It is argued along the same line that in rich countries,
NPM can undermine ethical standards and lead to corruption.
To illustrate the point, it is also noted that increased managerial autonomy has
brought blurred accountability and higher risk for public managers to become
corrupt, while others contend that increased freedom of management within
public sector organisations allows more opportunities for unethical behaviour.
Another ethical issue about NPM involves contracts. One scholar points out that
contracts are supposed to offer improvement in accountability; however,
contracts with government are often kept secret for reasons such as commercial
research. Thus, there is no transparency in terms of practice.

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 ENVIRONMENT

RELIGION
(ISLAMIC
APPROACH)
THE CULTURES OF
PHILOSOPHY, PUBLIC
ETHOS AND ORGANISATIO
POLITICAL N
CONTEXT

PUBLIC
MGT
2.4 THE PHILOSOPHY, ETHOS AND POLITICAL
CONTEXT OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

Government’s policy for public sector reform is driven by a

philosophy that makes the interest of the people of paramount
concern.
The human resource is the most valuable of all national
resources. People, whether there are the employers, employees
or customers of the public sector, transcend structures, systems,
procedures and technology.
They are the key elements to the overall success of government’s
initiative in public sector reform.
 PHILOSOPHY IN ADMINISTRATION
Consider some common concerns in public administration (matters
which are serious concerns to them).
One might express their philosophy “my philosophy in mgt is to get
things done as efficient as we can”.

Excellence in delivering services to the public

• Ethical conduct
• Quality services
 ETHOS IN PUBLIC
MANAGEMENT
Ethos is not a description of individual
behaviour, but a set of norms creating a
‘logic of appropriateness’ for those working
in public services.
Public Service ethos is formed through
practice and culture values such as integrity,
cooperation, consensus and others. This
indicates that the values should be
embedded in the minds of public servants.
The servant public should be aware of the
importance of values in provide services to
the public and would eliminate the “non-
performing public sector” in the public
service sector.
EXAMPLES OF ETHOS IN PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
Making decisions in a fair and transparent
Share and gain knowledge
 Placing benchmarks and try to achieve it
Contribute to formation of high quality human capital
 Have a strong sense of belonging
 Prioritizing teamwork
 Valuing customers with a sense of empathy
Keep politeness and courtesy towards the customers
 Being sensitive and responsive to customer needs
 Have a positive perception on complaints and consider them
as valuable
 POLITICAL CONTEXT OF
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
In Malaysia, it is characterized
structurally by federalism and
Westminster model (YDPA, the Senate
and House of Representatives).
Govt policy formulated by the Cabinet
and implemented by each Minister with
assistance of civil service.
Federalism : Federal, State and Local
Govt
Decentralized of power because public
deals directly with the civil servants.
 2.5 ISLAMIC APPROACH TO SERVICE
QUALITY
The effort to increase the quality of work and productivity is in
line with the religion of Islam that emphasizes the principle of
perfection (al-itqan), renewal (AI-Tajdid) and innovation (al-
Ibda).
Although INTAN has trained the civil servants, but the
implementation of Islamic values have been given less attention
in public administration.
Although it was implemented, but it is difficult to identify the
effectiveness in transforming employees according to Islamic
perspective.
 MANAGEMENT IN
ISLAM
Five principles of the Islamic
administration/management:
1.Syura
2.Justice
3.Freedom (within the limits of Islamic
laws)
4.Equality (in terms of law enforcement
and distribution of wealth)
5.Rights of every citizen to prosecute
leader who deviated from Islamic
guidance.
 2.6 THE CULTURES OF
PUBLIC ORGANIZATION
Hofstede (1991) defined culture as the
collective programming of the mind, which
distinguishes the members of one human
group from another. An interactive
aggregate of common characteristics
influences a human group's response to its
environment. As people's behaviour is
determined by their beliefs, they will react
differently to what they experienced in
the society. In relation with society, culture
is a collective phenomenon shared by
people who live or lived in the same social
environment
(Zakaria Abd Hadi, 2004).
 External culture can be
described as the particular
environment in which a
public organization serves.
It varies a great deal,
depending on the setting.
For instance, a police
station in rural area, Hulu
Selangor exists in an
environment that is much
different than the police
station in Petaling Jaya.
These examples illustrate
how a public service
organization might be
viewed differently by the

EXTERNAL CULTURE society they are serving,

depending on the external
culture.
 The internal culture of an
organization serves to
express the values, beliefs
and assumptions that guide
member's behaviors.
Internal culture is affected
by the external culture and
by the events that shape
member's opinions.
A police station in Hulu
Selangor might have an
internal culture based on
pride and the well wishes
of the public while there
may be an atmosphere of
confrontation in the police
INTERNAL CULTURE station in Petaling jaya.