What does public management mean to you? How does your interpretation differ fro

Question

What does public management mean to you? How does your interpretation differ from the textbook interpretation (The textbook defines similarly. The book defines public management as a concentration that analyze and practices functions as leading, organizing, motivating, planning and strategy making, evaluating effectiveness, and communicating)? Of the many scholars who have studied public administration and public management, which do you feel is the most influential to you and your view of management? Why?

Explanation / Answer

Public Management is the application of managerial techniques so as to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness to deliver good services to the public. In other words, it is the utilization of the resources (including the skills and functions of management) and the organizations so that the community objectives are achieved.

The book defines public management as a concentration that analyze and practices functions as leading, organizing, motivating, planning and strategy making, evaluating effectiveness, and communicating). This definition is similar to my understanding as stated above as the overall objective is to use the skills and functions of management in government and public sector organizations to move the community to achieve its goals.

The concept that I liked the most about Public Management is Managerialism. Uhr defines Managerialism as ‘following a streamlined process for decision making to allow not only the autonomy but also responsibility to the field manager so that they strive to achieve the result-oriented systems of government management’. Managerialism gained popularity in the public sector when the public sector companies faced financial crisis when they operated in the most traditional way.

The above definition by Uhr is most influential to me because managing is an art and not a science. Hence, the organizations (public or private sector) should be effectively managed by strategic decision making in the fast paced environment. This aspect is clearly visible in Uhr’s definition of Managerialism.  

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse W
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.