We explain what public management is and what New Public Management is. Also, why it is important and examples of public management.
What is public management?
When we speak of public management or public administration we refer to the implementation of government policies, that is, to the application of State resources in order to promote development and the welfare state of its population. Public management is also called a university degree that trains professionals in the theories, tools and practices that concern the public policies of a nation.
Although public management and public administration are not 100% equivalent concepts, to a large extent they can be used as synonyms. Their difference is that the first term refers to knowledge and conceptualization, while the other generally applies to the practical and real aspect of the same. But in both cases it is about how to manage the state’s resources.
The study of public management also aims to build public improvement methods, which make it possible to eliminate the rules that hinder economic and social life, improve those that are necessary and replace the obsolete ones with more up-to-date versions. All this in order to build more efficient public administration models, less prone to corruption and more democratic.
New Public Management (NGP)
Towards the end of the 20th century, certain sectors of the political and economic life of developed countries proposed the need to radically and profoundly rethink the way in which we conceive the Government and the State in the West, thus proposing their debureaucratization and the revision of the functioning of everything. what is public and what is subsidized, founding in the 1990s what was called the New Public Management (NGP).
This radical critique of the public, led by authors such as Ferlie (1996), Mönks (1998) and Bolgiani (2002), proposed four development models for the public:
- Efficiency model. Based on state benefit contracts, it focuses on the productive performance of the public sector.
- Downsizing and decentralization model of the State. It proposes the reduction of public structures and the radical decentralization of the administrative responsibilities of the State.
- Model of the search for excellence. Whose idea of the State is the promoter of a culture of leadership and learning favorable to national productive processes.
- Public service orientation model. The State must be governed by a model of excellence in the provision of services to the public, guaranteeing the satisfaction of its clientele.
Importance of public management
Public management is essential for the construction of more just, equitable and happy societies. Largely because the role of the State, the source of eternal debates between those who prefer minimal participation (liberals) and those who opt for full participation (interventionists) in economic and daily affairs, requires responsible, fair and democratic planning, which ensures always for gradual improvement and fairer rules of life. Thinking about public policies allows people to build their own development alternatives based on their particularities as a nation.
Examples of public management
It is easy to exemplify public management in the processes of change of governmentAs outgoing authorities and newcomers tend to implement different policies. Thus, for example, the Brazilian government of the State of Bahia implemented in 1995 a citizen service that implemented a Center of federal, provincial and national agencies that provide their services to the public in a comfortable and easy way. These SAC Centers (Citizen Attention Service) were distributed in the neighborhoods and had public service departments with photocopying, photographing, etc. services. All in favor of facilitating the procedures for the citizen.
Another noteworthy case was the implementation of transport cards via the Internet in the Government of the Community of Madrid, in Spain. This new service, launched in 1998, significantly improved the quality of life of the public, by saving them long lines at recharge counters and allowing them access to numerous information services linked to their rechargeable urban travel card.
You can read about other successful public management improvement practices here.