1. Administrative Values and Administrative Reform: An Assessment in the Wake of New Public Management Gene A. Brewer & J. Edward Kellough Department of Public Administration and Policy The University of Georgia

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3. New Public Management (NPM) 1. A management philosophy used by governments all over the world to modernize the public sector. 2. A term that describes the wave of public sector reforms adopted since the early1980s. 3. Major themes: managerialism, market orientation, and cost-efficiency.

4. NPM Has Focused on Human Resource Management 1. NPM reforms typically begin with a frontal assault on the public sector HRM system 2. These reforms have sought to deregulate the structure and operation of HRM systems to free up managers and increase productivity and performance 3. The emphasis has been on relaxing civil service system rules, increasing managerial discretion, and contracting out or privatizing operations whenever possible.

5. The Impact of NPM 1. NPM has altered the administrative and HRM systems of almost every country it has touched 2. Administrative institutions have been downsized and some of their functions contracted out or privatized 3. HRM systems have been loosened and decentralized in order to increase efficiency and empower managers 4. Reforms such as pay for performance and broad- banding have been implemented in many countries to increase productivity and performance

6. Political and Administrative Values 1. Values are deep-seated, enduring beliefs about how political and administrative systems should function 2. Political and administrative values are not identical, but they are similar and overlap 3. There are core values that lie at the heart of the politics and administration

7. Some Core Values * Economy * Efficiency * Effectiveness * Equity and Fairness * Justice * Transparency * Value for Money * Quality * Integrity * Responsiveness * Accountability * Stewardship

8. Value Conflicts are Inevitable 1. Administrative arrangements are never value neutral; they help determine ‘who gets what, when and how’ 2. Most reforms are proposed precisely because they advocate or promote particular values. 3. In the rush to reform, we often forget that value trade-offs are an implicit part of the process 4. When administrative and HRM reforms advance one set of values, they often simultaneously neglect or suppress other values

9. Our Study Investigates Several Popular NPM-Related HRM Reforms 1. Pay for performance 2. Decentralization of personnel authority 3. Elimination or reduction of employee protections

10. Evidence of Value Trade-offs 1. Many scholars have noted that NPM includes trade-offs between efficiency and accountability 2. Managerialism aims to increase efficiency and effectiveness while sacrificing equity and fairness 3. Short-run increases in efficiency are being purchased at a long-range cost in administrative capacity and social equity

11. Summary of Findings 1. These reforms are not supported by sound scientific evidence 2. Rather, they appear to have normative or ideological underpinnings that reflect the reformers’ attempt to control the bureaucracy and inject their preferred values into the policy process 3. There is evidence of fundamental trade-offs in core values (e.g., efficiency for equity).

12. Conclusions and Recommendations 1. This approach is not desirable because public sector HRM should be responsive to a broad spectrum of values in the quest for excellence in performance 2. Reformers should adopt an evidence-based approach, be more aware of value conflicts, and make value tradeoffs more explicit

13. A Way Forward 1. Reformers should put aside their partisan impulses and controlling tendencies, and embrace the idea of ‘smart policy’ 2. We recommend an evidence-based approach to administrative and HRM reform that is grounded in the expanding knowledge base of public administration and the policy sciences 3. We believe this approach will best serve the long term interests of the many diverse nations and countries across the globe