A D M I N I S T R AT I V E R E F O R M ,

P R O D U C T I V I T Y, A N D
PERFORMANCE

Denhardt & Denhardt

CHAPTER 10
This chapter will focus on major reforms that have emphasized
increasing administrative efficiency as well as look at the role of
technology in changing the way government works.
 “ R E I N V E N T I N G G O V E R N M E N T. ”

Over the past twenty years, a primary focus of reform has been the “New Public
Management,” or “reinventing government.”
The concept of reinvention and the broader effort of NPM in many ways can be considered
to address the old question of how can we improve government performance and
accountability?
However, the reform movement in the public and nonprofit sectors should not be equated
simply with a call for increased productivity.
NPM and other reformist themes suggest that government should not account merely for its
own activities but should be assessed on its capacity to achieve substantial public outcomes.
the latest news and information, and so shared one of the more important sources of power. Second,
IT enabled public and nonprofit organizations to engage more effectively with their counterparts in
other sectors and around the world, as well as with citizens. Such change restructured the ways in
which governments and other public service agencies responded to opportunities and challenges.
So whether we call it an effect of NPM, reinvention, or efforts to improve quality and productivity,
public and nonprofit administration at the beginning of the twenty-first century is quite different
today.
The ways in which we organize ourselves, engage with others, and respond to public concerns have
undergone a huge change or, to use Kettl’s phrase, “a transformation in governance” (Kettl, 2000, p.
488).
Public organizations started to lose their traditional bureaucratic structure, becoming instead more lateral
systems of shared power and teamwork.
Systems of management, too, were transformed into more equitable, less controlling forms of leadership. And
government agencies began to form meaningful partnerships with other institutions and citizens in response to
public problems.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also underwent a transformation of sorts. During the 1990s, NGOs
became drivers of policy issues in a variety of areas, such as human rights, economic development, urban
revitalization, and even governmental reform.
Advances in information technology (IT) played an integral role in transforming public and nonprofit
organizations worldwide.
Increased capacity for communication and information sharing redefined the distribution of authority within
institutions. Every member of the organization had access to
 THE NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

Although the application of NPM has varied country by country, the

reform agenda has remained consistent in its drive to create organizations
that are mission-driven, decentralized, and incentive-based.
Reformers strive for more flexible public organizations and more
responsive interorganizational networks, guided by the key principles of
accountability, responsiveness, and a commitment to outcome-based
governance (Boston, 1996; Peters, 1994).
To carry out the reform agenda, Osborne and Gaebler provide ten principles underlying reinvention and public
entrepreneurship:
1. Catalytic government: steering rather than rowing

2. Community-owned government: empowering rather than serving

3. Competitive government: injecting competition into service delivery

4. Mission-driven government: transforming rule-driven organizations

5. Results-oriented government: funding outcomes, not inputs

6. Customer-driven government: meeting the needs of the customer, not the bureaucracy

7. Enterprising government: earning rather than spending

8. Anticipatory government: prevention rather than cure

9. Decentralized government: from hierarchy to participation and teamwork

10. Market-oriented government: leveraging change through the market

Osborne and Gaebler intended these ten principles to serve as a new conceptual framework for public administration
 T H E R E S U LT S O F N P M A N D
REINVENTION

It will be some time before we can fully assess the impact of NPM, reinvention, and the drive to improve nonprofit organizations.

However, many have begun to question the lessons learned from the reform movements. Proponents point out that some of the key reform-
oriented initiatives, such as the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), have helped improve public service.
However, On the other hand, critics of NPM and reinvention suggest that even though certain aspects of the reform agenda have contributed to
meaningful improvements in public service, the application of these principles has produced a variety of negative externalities not envisioned by
early reformers.
In practice, the adoption of business practices and the reliance on market forces by public organizations have degenerated into a sense of
managerialism—a belief that government could and should be run like a business based on strictly economic principles.
As public managers began to apply their reform agendas, many focused on administrative efficiency more than on the democratic principles of
effective governance.
Another point of Another point of concern is that the reform movement has concentrated on customer-centered instead of citizen-centered public
administration. Critics argue that “citizens are not the customers of government; they are its owners who elect leaders to represent their interests. A
customer-centered model puts citizens in a reactive role limited to liking or disliking services and hoping that administrators will change delivery
if enough customers object” (Schachter, 1995, p. 530, citing Frederickson, 1994). In contrast, citizen-centered public administration restores the
public to an ownership position—a proactive relationship in which citizens engage with the institutions of governance to achieve public outcomes.
Despite this criticism, however, the NPM and reinvention
movements have had a pervasive impact on public administration
in this country and around the world. The principles underlying
these reform efforts have contributed to major initiatives to
enhance government performance and accountability. Public
organizations at all levels have employed a variety of strategies to
streamline work processes and enhance the public service.
 I N F O R M AT I O N A N D C O M M U N I C AT I O N
TECHNOLOGIES

Advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) over the

last two decades have permeated nearly every aspect of public
organizations, revolutionizing the way in which government and citizens
interact.
These advances represent a new paradigm for governments that focuses
on applying technology in a way that “will make the citizen-government
relationship more inclusive and more direct” (Deloitte, 2002, p. 21). In this
new paradigm, government is more accountable, more transparent, and
more trustworthy (Chun et al., 2010).
“the networked society is fraught with complexity and vulnerable to new
threats—threats to stability, privacy, security, and stewardship” (p. s86).
E-GOVERNMENT AND E-GOVERNANCE

The term electronic government has come to refer to the government’s use of technology to provide
information, deliver services, support operations, and interact with citizens, businesses, and other
governments at any time from any place. Led to shared governance such as citizen participation, and
collaborative decision making .
There are other limitations and challenges to interactive technologies as well. ICT almost always
involves significant resource commitments. Even though federal, state, and local government have
invested billions of dollars in technology over the last two decades, budget restrictions often make it
difficult for jurisdictions to develop and maintain websites and technology-related services.
Security is of primary concern as well. Not only must systems be protected from viruses and hacking,
but sensitive information and transactions must be safeguarded so they are not revealed or used
inappropriately. Privacy also is an issue.
 PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

performance measurement has “emerged as the most important form of public

sector management reform in many years” (Gilmour & Lewis, 2006, p. 742), as
citizens, legislators, and advocacy groups have begun demanding more value from
public organizations.
Government increasingly has been under pressure to prove that substantive
results, or outcomes related to a program’s public effectiveness, are generated by its
activities.
Performance measurement offers a means to produce quantitative evidence about
program outcomes that show how well a program is meeting its goals.
O P P O RT U N I T I E S F O R T H E F U T U R E