Discuss the themes and features of New Public Administration.

  THEMES OF NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The themes of the New Pubtic Administration Approach have been:

• ·         Relevance: It stated that traditional public administration has too fittle interest in contemporary problems and issues. Social realities must be taken into consileration, ie., people should see changes as relevant meaning thereby that changes should be specific to the needs of the area and the need of the people. Earlier approaches to NPA neglected the rationality of the people. However, NPA suggested the inclusion of rationality of the people too in the process of policy formulation. It advocatedthat the whatever issues are addressed pertaining to the activities of public administration, should be relevant keeping in mind the prevalent socictal concerns of the country and the citizens.

• ·         Values: Value-neutrality in public administration is an impossibility. Values are a prerequisite of development. Valuc centricity should be an organisational goal, and is to be taken into account when conducting all public policy formulation The citizens, their problems have to be catered to with value sensitivity and orientation which in turn makes the organisation more effective and efficient. Avoidance or failure to achieve transparency can cause significant damage to the relationship between the state and the people they are aiming to serve.

• ·         Social Equity: Realisation of social equity should be a chief goal of public administration. The main objective of any organisation is to treat all citizens at power irrespective of caste. creed, colour or race.Social equity is an important component for any organisation to prosper and flourish and this was propagated by the New Public Administration Approach.

• ·         Change: Changc is an inevitable part of the society and every organisation should adapt itselfto the changing scenarios of the prevalent times.This change infuses a sense of newness and fosters adaptability only to keep the citizens and their welfare at bay. Thus, operational flexibility and organisational adaptability encompassing the environmental changes should be in-built in the administrative system. Management-Worker Relations: There should be cqual emphasis both on efficiency and humane considerations. This new Approach focuses on both the efficiency and the human relations criterion in order to achieve growth and success. NPA provides solutions for achieving these goals, popularly called the 4 D's ic., Decentralisation, Debureaucratisation, Delegation and Democratisation.

FEATURES OF NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The main features of New Public Administration have been:

• ·         Responsiveness: The administration should bring about certain internal as well as external changes so that public administration could be made more relevant to the social, economic, political and technological environment. For this to happen the administration has to be more flexible and adaptable to the various changes.

• ·         Client Centricity: This means that the effectiveness of the administrator should be judged not only from the point of view of the government, but from that of the citizens. If the administrative actions do not improve the quality of life of citizens then they are not effective notwithstanding whatsoever rationality and efficiency they may have.

• ·         Structural Changes in Administration: The New Public Administration Approach calls for small, flexible and less hicrarchical structures In administration. the citizens-administration interface can become more flexible and comfortable and the organisational structure shoukl be in consonance with the socially relevant conditions.
• ·         Multi-disciplinary Nature of Public Administration: Knowledge from several disciplines and not just one dominating paradigm build the discipline of public administration. The political, social, economic, management and human relation approaches are needed to ensure the growth of discipline.

 

The Second Minnowbrook Conference was held after a gap of twenty years in 1988, which was attended by sixty eight scholars and practioners of Public administration and other disciplines such as Histary, Economics. Political Science, Psychology, and so on. The Conference however focused on the changing role of State and government, privatisation, contracting out and the increasing role of non- state actor in the government. It examined the theory and practice of public administration and by balancing the business and public sector.

 

This was followed by the third Minowbrook Conference, which was was held under the chairmanship of Rosemary O'Leary and organised when the American economy was down the hill and global terrorism had starting showing its first eflects.It called for global concems like global terrorism, economy and ecological imbalances etc. Participants were invited from other countries as well. Hence, it was global in approach focussing upon global challenges and problems of public administration. [t upheld the structural and functional reforms or second generation reforms that gave rise to the concept of 3 E's — Economy, Efficiency and Effectiveness. The proceedings were published in “The Future of Public Administration Around the World: The Minnowbrook Perspective” by Rosemary O*Leary, David M. Van Slyke, and Soanhee Kim.

 

In a nutshell, it can be said that New Public Administration did bring forth some newness in the concept of public administration which was challenged by various critics. Many of the scholars were of the opinion that when time lapsed, the newness of that particular aspect or issue would go away, secondly it was not new in content but new in form. Some issues were taken up consecutively. which meant that they had not been achieved .

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