by Janine L. O'Flynn

2007

Australian Journal of Public Administration,Vol. 66, No. 3, pp. 353-366, 2007

Abstract:      
Both practitioners andscholars are increasingly interested in the idea of public value as a way ofunderstanding government activity, informing policy-making and constructingservice delivery. In part this represents a response to the concerns about ‘newpublic management’, but it also provides an interesting way of viewing whatpublic sector organisations and public managers actually do. The purpose ofthis article is to examine this emerging approach by reviewing new publicmanagement and contrasting this with a public value paradigm. This provides thebasis for a conceptual discussion of differences in approach, but also forpointing to some practical implications for both public sector management andpublic sector managers.

Keywords: new public management, public value, role ofmanagers, public administration, public management