Kaboolian - The NPM Challenging The Boundaries
Kaboolian - The NPM Challenging The Boundaries
Kaboolian - The NPM Challenging The Boundaries
Administration Debate
Author(s): Linda Kaboolian
Source: Public Administration Review, Vol. 58, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1998), pp. 189-193
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Society for Public
Administration
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/976558
Accessed: 08/03/2009 12:45
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=black.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Blackwell Publishing and American Society for Public Administration are collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to Public Administration Review.
http://www.jstor.org
topromote
a constructive
is intended
andmeaningful
Thissymposium
between
scholars
in thepublicpolicyandsodialogue
Scholars
called'?raditional
bothacademic
wereaskedtoconpublicadministration"communities.
representing
provinces
thataddress
thebroadtopicof leadership,
" Whiletheauthors
tributearticles
andthenewPublicManagement.
democracy
a
PAR
tasks
in
ways,
the
their
readers
and
Articles
ofdifferent
variety
willfind essays
approached
engaging thought
provoking.
werereviewed
includedin thesymposium
Herbert
bya distinguishedpanel
ofscholars
including
Kaufman,
1996 Waldo
Awardwinner,
DavidH. Rosenbloom,
andGaryL. Wamsley,
formerPAReditor-in-chief
editor-in-chief
Administration
&
on
the
We
welcome
comments
Society.
your
symposium.
LarryD. Terry,
symposium
editor
eformmovements
in thepublicsector,codiby
Management"
R fied as the "NewPublic
cholars,providean opportunityfor the
adherents
of publicadministration
andof public
Challengingthe Boundadies
of the
management
to engageeachother.Thissymposium
presents
thereactions
of well-known
scholars
with
Management vs. AdniiistraonDebte
different
onthetheoretical
perspectives
andempirical
opportunities
andchallenges
presented
by theNew
PublicManagement.
All of the authors
havepubLinda
Kaboolian,
Harvard
University
lishedimportant
andlengthyworkselsewhere
that
morefullyelucidatetheirpositionson issuesthat
dividetheschoolof publicmanagement
fromthatof
publicadministration.'The
uniquequalityof the
symposium
is thatthesescholars
address
oneanother
in a conversation
disciplined
by focuson a specific
topic.
The
New
Public
Management:
The "NewPublicManagement":
New
Vine in OldBottles
The"NewPublicManagement"
labelsa seriesof
innovationsoccurringdomesticallyand abroad
(Organization
forEconomic
Cooperation
andDevelopment,1995a,1995b). The contemporaneous
of similar
appearance
publicsectorreforms
in countriesasvaried
in theireconomic
andpolitical
systems
as theUnitedStates,Korea,the UnitedKingdom,
Portugal,
France,Brazil,Australia,
Sweden,New
andCanada
Zealand,
is a natural
topicforscholarly
investigation
anddiscussion.Whethertheinnovationsrepresent
a "paradigm
shift"in ThomasKuhn's
(1962)senseis an empirical
questionlargelyunanswered.2Thatthe characteristic
elementsof the
innovations
seemfounded
on a setof shared
principlesappears
moreevident(Nagel,1997).
PublicAdministration
Review. May/June
1998,Vol.58,No.3
189
order
toachieve
the
performance
measuresfor
which
areaccountable,
itisargued,
need
managers
they
tobeliberatedfrom
routines
andregulation
bythe
various
administrative
systems.
PoliticsorAdministration?
190
PublicAdministration
Review* May/June
1998,Vol.58,No.3
in addition
to publicschools)ortherightto optoutof theservice
delivery
Dissatisfied
system.
customers
can"exit"(e.g.,livein
Public
managers
under
theNew
Public
Management
gatedcommunities),
buttheextentto whichcitizensacceptchoices madeby agents,suchas electedofficialsandpublicmanagers,
arange
reforms
can
ofchoices
provide
fomwhich
customers
whenthesechoicesdo not represent
theirpreferences,
andremain
in
civic
life
is
to
engaged
the
of
a
maintenance
key
democratic
canchoose
vouchers
topublic
(e.g.,
inaddition
or state.
schools)
Not allvisionsof theconstitutive
in theNew
publicmanager
theright
tooptoutoftheservice
delivery
system.
PublicManagement
reforms
aredire. Behnsupports
publicmanof the regime. Normativemodelsof agersplayinga constitutive
the healthand improvement
rolebutis lessconcerned
aboutthe
institutionsdesignedto solve outcomes
of theseactivities,
publicmanagement
thatpublicmanagers
notonly
notwithstanding,
arguing
problemsand providegoodsandserviceshaveformativeeffectson canimprove
theperformance
of publicinstitutions,
butalsomake
societyand aretherebyconstitutive.The job of publicmanagersis government
moredemocratic.
Behnpresents
an activistimagein
to be vigilantabout the effectsof variousinstitutionalarrange- starkcontrast
to Terry's
callforthe"conservator"
publicmanager.
mentson the relationships
and processesthatarenecessary
for the In Behn's
view,publicmanagers
havean obligation
to remediate
healthof the democracyand to acceptthatpoliticalengagementis the"failures
of governance"
thatstemfromthe structure
of deciinevitable. But this engagementshouldbe circumscribed
by the sion-making
processes,humanfrailtiesof leaders,politics,illconstitutional
of the polity.
requirements
informed
citizens,andinattentive
electedofficials.Behnseesno
Kellyagreesthatthe originsof institutional
formsarethe politi- reasonto predictfewerfailuresunderthe New PublicManagecal, social,and economicsystemsof the regime. Moreover,she ment;therefore,
willrequire
governance
to engage
publicmanagers
definesthe goal of theseformsas the developmentandsustenance in constitutiveactivities.
of an "inclusivedemocraticpolity" thatprovidesall its adult...citiFinally,
Lynntoo agreesthatpublicmanagers
willbe constituzens with full rights,duties and responsibilities
and a sense of tive. Despiteattempts
of theNewPublicManagement
reforms
to
belongingas an equalpartnerentitledto the benefitsandburdens keepthemapartfrompolitics,thenature
of performance
contractsocietyoffers.
ing requires
of outcomegoals,outputmeasures,
negotiation
and
Kellyarguesthatthe rational-choice
of the New resources.Theseareultimately
underpinnings
allocative
decisionsthatwill be
PublicManagement
areproblematic
to the continuedlegitimacyof politically
determined.
To theextentthatthecontracts
areused,
democraticinstitutionsin heterogeneoussocietiesattemptingto publicmanagers
will be engagedin politicsandwill shapethe
maintainan inclusivepolity. In the lightof evidencethatminority character
of thestate.
groupsmay not haveassimilatedor may haverejectedseemingly
is theirconcernthatpublicmanagers
Unitingtheseauthors
be
universalnorms about individualismand profit maximization, accountable.
Discussions
of accountability
too oftenfocuson the
publicagenciesmaybe evaluatedas unresponsive,
of mechanisms
unjust,andille- characteristics
andprocesses
ratherthanon subgitimate. Kelly'sproposed remedyis any set of institutional stance.Incontrast,
theauthors
revisittheissuesof forwhatpublic
arrangements
thatprovidedescriptive,
symbolic,andthereforesub- managers
areaccountable
andto whom. TheNewPublicManstantiverepresentation.
Sheis agnosticon thevalueof servicepro- agementreformsuse marketforcesto hold the publicsector
vision by public ratherthan privateentities,valuinginsteadthe accountable
andthesatisfaction
of preferences
as themeasures
of
extentto which the decisionmakersand serviceprovidersmirror accountability.
In orderforthissystemto proceed,
certaincondithe compositionof the citizenry.
tions,suchas theexistence
of competition,
mustexistandinfor"Customerservice"reformsimplementedby the New Public mationaboutchoicesmustbe available.Kellyworries
aboutthe
Managementprovidea case in point for the concernsaboutthe robustness
of bothof theseconditions
in thepublicsector.Behn
constitutivenatureof publicmanagement.Cook, referencing
the joinsKellyin viewingthecitizenry
asboundedin theirrationality,
formativeeffectsof the New Deal programs,questionsthe unin- lacking
theinformation,
skill,orattention
necessary
to understand
tendedconsequences
of treatingcitizensas customers."Customer," thefullrangeof choicesandtechnologies
to solvesocialproblems.
a commercialrole, assumesan individualistorientationand fixed Behncallsthis"civic
failure"
andargues
thatpublicmanagers
need
in contrastwith the "public"assumptionsof political to help"educate"
preferences
thecitizenry
abouttheiroptions.If publicmanlife. Politics,Cookargues,is as muchaboutchangingpeople'spref- agersdo thiswell,bywhichBehnmeanstheyareexplicitabout
erencesand developingcollectivepurposesas it is aboutgetting theirgoalsandstrategies,
theirleadership
will increase
political
preferencessatisfied. Reinforcementof the "customer"
role may accountability.
affectthewaycitizensseethemselves
andtheirobligations,
rightsin
thepoliticalregime,andrelationships
to others.
Kellyadmitsthe valueto publicmanagers
of the "customer
service"strategyin addressing
the heterogeneous
tastesof diversecitiThevalueof thissymposium
is thatthediscussion
amongvarizenry. But, Kellynotes, it is one thing to satisfyindividualcus- ousschoolsof thoughtwithinthefieldsof publicadministration
tomers,anotherto be accountablefor broadergoals. If political andmanagement
abouttheNewPublicManagement
willresultin
processesdo not providefull satisfactionto citizens,publicman- a comprehensive
researchagenda. Lynnis enthusiasticaboutthe
agersunderthe New PublicManagementreformscan providea possibilities
presentedby the New PublicManagement
for empirirangeof choicesfromwhichcustomerscan choose(e.g.,vouchers cal researchand theorybuilding,thoughhe warnsus that this set
Questions,Not Answers
Symposium:
Leadership,
Democracy
andtheNewPublicManagement
191
192
Public
Administration
Review* May/June
1998,Vol.58,No.3
References
and
InternationalPublic ManagementJournal 1(3). Available from
Banelay,Michael,andLindaKaboolian(1990)."Structural
Metaphors
andManagePublicManagement
Education."
Journalof PolicyAnalysis
http://www.willamette.org/ipmn/research/journal/journal2.html.
ment9(4):599-610.
Nagel,JackH. (1997). "Radically
Reinventing
Government:
Editor'sIntroCounts.
MA:Harvard
Behn,RobertD. (1991).Leadership
Uniduction."
Cambridge,
JournalofPolicyAnalysis
andManagement
16 (3):349-356.
versityPress.
NationalPerformance
Review(1993). FromRedTapeto Results:
a
Creating
Cook,Brian(1996). Bureaucracy
andSelf-Government:
theRole
Government
thatWorks
Reconsidering
BetterandCostsLess.Washington,
DC:U.S.GovinAmerican
Politics.
MD:JohnsHopofPublicAdministration
Baltimore,
ernmentPrintingOffice.
kinsUniversity
Press.
Niskanen,WilliamA. (1971). Bureaucracy
and Representative
Government.
Donlevy,JohnW. Jr.(1994).Intergovernmental
PublicService.
Contractingfor
Chicago,IL:RandMcNally.
LosAngeles:ReasonFoundation.
Nye,JosephS. Jr.,PhilipD. Zelikow,andDavidC. King,eds.(1997). Why
Downs,Anthony(1967).InsideBureaucracy.
Boston,MA:LittleBrown.
PeopleDon't TrustGovernment.
Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversity
Eggers,WilliamD. (1997). Performance
LosAngeles:ReaBasedContracting.
Press.
sonPublicPolicyInstitute.
for EconomicCooperation
Organization
and Development(1995a).GoverEvans,Lewis,ArthurGrimes,BruceWilkinson,and DavidTeece (1996).
nancein Transition:
PublicManagement
in OECDCountries.
Reforms
"Economic
Reformin New Zealand1984-95:ThePursuitof Efficiency."
Paris:Organization
forEconomicCooperation
andDevelopment.
JournalofEconomic
Literature)XXKJV
(December):
for EconomicCooperation
1856-1902.
Organization
and Development(1995b).Public
Horner,Constance(1994). "Deregulating
the FederalService:Is the Time
ManagementDevelopments:
for EcoUpdate1994. Paris:Organization
thePublicService:
Right?"In JohnJ. DiIulioJr.,ed., Deregulating
Can
nomicCooperation
andDevelopment.
Government
BeImproved?
DC:TheBrookings
Washington,
Institution. Osborne,DavidandTed Gaebler(1992).Reinventing
Government:
Howthe
A ToolforAchieving
in
Jensen,Ron (1995).ManagedCompetition:
Excellence
Entrepreneurial
Spiritis Transforming
thePublicSector.Reading,MA:
Government.
Alliancefor ReinventingGovernment.Availablefrom
Addison-Wesley.
http://www.alliance.napwash.org/alliance/index.html.
Peters,B. Guy (1987). "Politiciansand Bureaucrats."
In Jan-ErikLane,
Kaboolian,
Linda(1996)."Disciplinary
Foundation:
In Donald
Sociology."
andPublicChoice.
Bureaucracy
BeverlyHills:Sage.
F. KettlandH. BrintonMilward,TheStateofPublicManagement.
Balti(1996). "Modelsof Governance
for the 1990s."In DonaldF.
more,MD:TheJohnsHopkinsUniversity
Press.
KettlandH. BrintonMilward,TheStateof PublicManagement.
BaltiKelly,RitaMaeandGeorgiaDuerst-Lahti,
eds.(1995).Gender
Power,Leadmore,MD:TheJohnsHopkinsUniversity
Press.
AnnArbor,MI:University
ership
andGovernance.
of MichiganPress.
Reich,Robert(1990). PublicManagement
in a Democratic
Society.EngleKettl,DonaldF. (1997). "TheGlobalRevolutionin PublicManagement:
woodCliffs,NJ:Prentice
Hall.
DrivingThemes,MissingLinks."Journalof PolicyAnalysis
andManage- Self,Peter(1993).Government
bytheMarket?ThePoliticsof PublicChoice.
ment16 (3):446-462.
London:WestviewPress.
Kuhn,Thomas(1962). TheStructure
Revolutions.
of Scientific
Chicago,IL: Terry,LarryD. (1995). Leadership
ofPublicBureaucracies:
TheAdministrator
University
of ChicagoPress.
as Conservator.
ThousandOaks,CA:Sage.
Lane,Jan-Erik
(1993). ThePublicSector.
London:Sage.
Thompson,James(1997). "Quasi-Markets
and StrategicChangein Public
Light, Paul C. (1997). The Tidesof Reform:MakingGovernment
Work
Organizations."
Presentedat the FourthNationalPublicManagement
1945-1995.NewHaven,CT:YaleUniversity
Press.
Research
Conference,
Athens,GA.
Lynn,Laurence
E. Jr. (1996). PublicManagement
asArt,Science
andProfes- Tullock,Gordon(1965).ThePoliticsofBureaucracy.
Washington,
DC:Public
sion.Chatham,
NJ:ChathamHouse
AffairsPress.
Mathiasen,
DavidG. (1996)."TheNew PublicManagement
andItsCritics."
Symposium:
Leadership,
Democracy
andtheNewPublicManagement
193