2. Introduction…
• As a discipline, there is an unusual uncertainty about the
approaches to the study of administration.
• This turmoil is unique because it is raising ‘fundamental’
questions about the role of the state itself. The state is facing
several challenges – both from inside as well as outside.
• The Public Service approach came after the NPM approach.
3. Introduction…
According to NPM:
(1) Rather than focusing on controlling bureaucracies and delivering
services, public administrators should ‘steer’ rather than ‘row’.
“Those who steer the boat have far more power over its destination
than those who row it. ”
(2) Public administration should be the entrepreneur of a new,
leaner, and increasingly privatized government.
4. Introduction…
• An important question asked by the critics of NPM is: In our
rush to steer, are we forgetting who owns the boat?
• King and Stivers: Book– ‘Government is Us’ in 1998.
• The government belongs to its citizens.
5. Introduction…
• Public administrators should focus on their responsibility to
serve and empower citizens as they manage public
organizations and implement public policy.
• Citizens should be at the forefront. Emphasis should be on
building public institutions which are marked by integrity and
responsiveness.
6. Background of the Approach…
• Concerns regarding NPM and the role of the public managers in
the model.
• Critics have pointed out that the neo-liberal philosophy
emphasised by NPM has functioned to the detriment of the larger
public interest, affecting particularly the poor and the marginalised.
• Some have also pointed out that public entrepreneurship
threatens to undermine democratic and constitutional values such
as fairness, justice, representation, and participation.
7. Background of the Approach…
• Therefore, in contrast to the NPM, the new public service
approach was emphasized.
8. The Approach…
• Set of ideas about the role of public administration in the
governance system that places citizens at the center.
• The public service approach has been established in a particular
climate --- this climate has been provided by the theorists of
citizenship, community and civil society, organizational humanists,
and post-modernist public administrators.
9. The Approach…
Certain features of Public Service Approach:
• Serve rather than steer:
(a) Public servant should help citizens articulate their shared
interests, rather than to attempt to control or steer society in
new directions.
(b) Sometimes the public policies are not the result of
governmental decision-making processes.
10. The Approach…
(c) This happens especially when the government is itself a
player or (sometimes) a very substantial player in the field of
public service delivery.
(d) Public policies are the outcome of a complex set of
interactions involving multiple groups and multiple interests.
The government is no longer in charge.
11. The Approach…
(e) Role of the government :
(i) direct the actions of the public through regulation and decree.
(ii) establish a set of rules and incentives through which people will
be guided in the ‘proper’ direction.
(iii) The government should become a player --- the government
along with the private and non-profit groups should seek solutions
to the problems that communities face.
12. The Approach…
(f) In this process, the role of the government is transformed
from one of control to one of agenda setting, bringing the
proper players to the table and facilitating, negotiating, or
brokering solutions to public problems.
(g) In a world of active citizenship, public officials will
increasingly play a conciliating, mediating, or even adjudicating
role.
13. The Approach…
• The public interest is the aim, not the by-product:
(a) Contribute to building a collective, shared notion of the public
interest.
(b) The goal is not to find quick solutions driven by individual
choices. Rather, it is the creation of shared interests and shared
responsibilities.
(c) Government has a moral obligation to reach solutions. These
solutions must have processes that are consistent with the
norms of justice and fairness.
14. The Approach…
(d) Public servants have to create arenas in which citizens can
articulate their shared values through discourses.
15. The Approach…
• Think strategically, act democratically:
(a) To realise a collective vision, the next step is establishing
roles and responsibilities and developing specific action steps
to move towards the desired goals.
(b) The idea is not merely to establish a vision and then leave
the implementation to those in government.
16. The Approach…
(c) The important task of political leadership --- to articulate and
encourage the strengthening of citizen responsibility and in
turn, to support groups and individuals involved in building the
bonds of community.
(d) Political leadership can lay the groundwork for effective and
responsible citizen action.
17. The Approach…
• Serve citizens, not the customers:
(a) Public interest is a dialogue about shared values.
Public interest is not an aggregation of individual self-interest.
(b) Therefore, public servants should not respond to the demands of
the customers but focus on building relationships of trust and
collaboration with and among citizens.
18. The Approach…
(c) This approach recognises that the relationship between the
government and its citizens is not the same as that between a
business and its customers.
19. The Approach…
(d) It is problematic to even determine who the customer is because
the government serves more than just the immediate client.
Government also serves those who may be waiting for service,
those who may need the service, even though, they may not be
actively seeking it, future generations of service recipients, etc.
(e) Some customers of the government have greater resources and
greater skill in bringing their demands forward than others. The rich
would be treated better in the private sector.
20. The Approach…
(f) The government should not respond to the selfish, short-term interest
of the ‘customers’.
(g) Must demonstrate its concern for the larger community.
(h) The government should be especially sensitive to the voices of the
downtrodden.
• Accountability is not simple:
(a) Under old public administration the accountability of the administrator
was not an issue. Politicians were expected to make decisions while
bureaucrats carried them out.
21. The Approach…
(b) Under NPM, the public managers are called to account primarily
in terms of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and responsiveness to
market forces.
(c) This approach believes that the public administrator should be
influenced by and held accountable to complex constellations of
institutions and standards, including the public interest, statutory
and constitutional law, other levels of government, media,
democratic norms, and of course, citizens.
22. The Approach…
(d) Recognises that the public administrators are involved in
complex value conflicts. They should not make societal decisions
alone, rather through the process of dialogue, citizen empowerment,
and broad-based citizen engagement, decisions should be made.
(e) All these, should be made a part of the discourse. This will lead
to building responsible citizenry and accountability.
23. The Approach…
• Value people, not just productivity:
(a) This approach emphasises the importance of “managing through
people.”
(b) It suggests that rational attempts to control human behaviour (like
productivity, improvement, etc) are likely to fail in the long run if, at the
same time, insufficient attention is paid to the values and interests of
individual members of an organisation.
(c) Shared leadership, collaboration, and empowerment should be the
norms both inside and outside the organization.
24. The Approach…
• Value citizenship and public service above entrepreneurship:
(a) NPM encourages public administrators to act and think as
entrepreneurs of a business enterprise. However, this approach
rejects this idea.
(b) Government is owned by the citizens. Public administrators are not the
owners of their agencies and programs.
(c)Public administrators must share power, work through people, and
broker solutions. Also, they should reconceptualize their role in the
governance process as responsible participants, not entrepreneurs.
25. The Approach…
(d) This role change will lead to different challenges and
responsibilities:
(i) Public administrators must know and manage their own
agency’s resources. They should also be aware of and
connected to, other sources of support and assistance,
engaging citizens and the community in the process.
26. The Approach…
(ii) In this approach, risks and opportunities reside within the
larger framework of democratic citizenship and shared
responsibility. The consequences of success and failure are
not limited to a single private business, public administrators do
not single-handedly decide what is best for a community.
27. The Approach…
(iii) This does not mean that all short-term opportunities are
lost. If dialogue and citizen engagement are ongoing,
opportunities and potential risks can be explored promptly.
28. Criticism…
• Too much normativism, subjectivity, and idealism.
• Lack of explanatory or problem-solving theories.
• Difficult to practice.
• Too much stress on communitarianism, undermines individual
rights, choice, and freedom.
• Based upon the socio-cultural context of the USA, at the dawn of
the new millennium, may not be universally applicable.
