Summary:

Many countries have been committed to programmes of public sector reinvention, restructuring and renewal in recent times, none more so than New Zealand. Since the mid-1980s, virtually all aspects of the management of New Zealand's public sector have been redesigned and reorganized - human resource management, financial management, the machinery of government, the funding and delivery of services, and the role and operations of local government. Many of these reforms have won both domestic and international acclaim. Some have also been the subject of considerable controversy. Few dispute, however, that they have given birth to a new model of public management - the 'New Zealand model'. This book describes and critically assesses the merits of this model. It examines the model's theoretical origins and identifies the administrative principles and doctrines upon which it is based. It also explores how the new model operates in practice, how its outcomes compare with those intended, and what impact it has had, both positive and negative, on the governance of New Zealand. Specific attention is given to such issues as institutional design, the role, selection and assessment of departmental chief executives, the organization and purchasing of policy advice, human resource management, financial management, the commitment of biculturalism and the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, the impact of the reforms on the cultures, ethics and ethos of the public sector, and the current provisions for administrative review and redress. The book concludes by examining the lessons of the New Zealand model for other countries. Public Management: The New Zealand Model is essential reading for students and teachers of public management, public policy, political science, public sector accounting and human resource management. More generally, it should be of value to all those concerned with the quest for better government.