Obedient Servants?: Management Freedoms and Accountabilities in the New Zealand Public SectorThe experiences of a representative sample of public servants, members of Parliament, and informed observers of the control systems of New Zealand’s public management model adopted in the early 1990s are examined in this book. Revealed is a trend that is moving away from the tradition of delivering public services through a centralized bureaucracy. Richard Norman uses his experience critiquing public service bureaucracies as a journalist, working for a government-owned corporation that crashed after becoming too entrepreneurial, and delivering training in finance and management to public servants adjusting to the systems of the “New Public Management” model to examine the creation of a new model of control that achieves a balance between control and empowerment. |
Contents
Preface | 7 |
Chapter 1 | 27 |
Chapter 2 | 33 |
Chapter 3 | 45 |
a public sector revolution in New Zealand | 55 |
Chapter 5 | 71 |
Limits to freedom | 79 |
Chapter 6 | 96 |
Creating quality information | 122 |
Chapter 8 | 143 |
Chapter 9 | 171 |
Efficiency and effectiveness | 194 |
Moving beyond onedimensional thinking | 219 |
Aspects of control systems | 234 |
| 240 | |
| 253 | |
Common terms and phrases
accrual accounting achieve allocation assess Audit Office Auditor-General balanced scorecard become behaviour budget bureaucracy central agency manager Chapter chief executives clarity clear objectives commented consultant contracts control systems corporate services manager costs created decentralisation decision-making deliver departments described economic effective efficiency emphasis expected experience F Scott Fitzgerald focus focused freedom to manage funding goals ibid incentives inputs interaction interviewees involved issues limited major measures Michael Wintringham Mixed Member Proportional operational outcomes outputs paradoxes Parliament parties pendulum percent performance agreement policy manager political politicians private sector problems programmes public choice theory Public Finance Act public management public organisations public servants public service purchase questions reality reform relationships responsibility risk Roger Douglas role seeking seen select committees service delivery spending staff strategic planning strategy structures Te Puni Kokiri techniques theory thermostat-like Tom Scott Treasury Zealand model Zealand public sector