The Implementation Problem of New Public Management Reforms: The

Abstract

The spread of the new public management paradigm in public administration provided footing for a new movement adhering to a particular set of ideas and concepts of management reform in a wide range of countries at the end of last century and into the 21st century. Governments of different political persuasions fostered a radical drive towards constructing new models for public management in which redesigning the role of the state and introducing models targeting performance moved to centre stage. Administrative management reforms became central amongst the nations of both the developed and developing world. Making the state and its organizations attain higher levels of performance at lower cost guided domestic strategies for producing reforms. While the spread of management values achieved a considerable level of success, and, comprised the main paradigm that guided the state’s reform policies, the same cannot be said of implementing these reform experiments in public administration. Comparative analysis reveals there are considerable limits to managerial adjustment, which are caused by various mechanisms. This article discusses the implementation of management reforms, and, seeks a theoretical explanation for the problem of why failures in implementing such reforms occurred.