Questioning the New Public Management

The book contains a wealth of detailed and fascinating case studies of New Public Management (NPM) in practice in the UK, exploring the enactment of NPM in its specific organizational contexts. A range of public services are covered including local government, education, social work and the police, with particular attention paid to the National Health Service. The editors introduce the case studies through an examination of the 'hydra-headed' nature of NPM, its variability between sectors and its contested character. This provides themes that are developed within the case studies, where, in varying organizational contexts, the meaning of NPM is negotiated and its impact on those working in the organization is explored. The book points to the complex, fluid and negotiated character of NPM, as well as its centrality in reconfiguring occupational identities and relations within public service organizations.

Contents: Introduction: questioning the new public management, Mike Dent, John Chandler and Jim Barry. Context and Theory of the New Public Management: New public management and the professions in the UK: reconfiguring control?, Mike Dent and Jim Barry. Variations Between Sectors: Does 'Best Value' represent best value? local government middle management perspectives, Linda Keen; What do we want from social care managers? aspirations and realities, Jeanette Henderson and Janet Seden; Have you seen my assessment schedule? Proceduralization, constraint and control in social work with children and families, Paul Michael Garrett; New police management, performance and accountability, Beverly Metcalf. Hydra-Headed New Public Management: The Case of the National Health Service: Dilemmas beyond the glass ceiling...: the performances of senior women managers in the National Health Service, Alison Linstead and Geraldine Catlow; Can the public sector learn? the importation of 'Patient-Focused Care' in an NHS hospital trust, Chris Howorth, Frank Mueller and Charles Harvey; 'It's a leap of faith, isn't it?' managers' perceptions of PFI in the NHS, Sally Ruane; New forms of 'Out of Hours' care: from collaboration to competitive entrepreneurialism, Catrina Alferoff and Mike Dent. New Public Management as Contested Terrain: The new public management and higher education: a human cost?, Elisabeth Berg, Jim Barry and John Chandler; A bit of a laugh: nurses' use of humour as a mode of resistance, Sharon C. Bolton. The Limits of New Public Management: Uses and limitations of performance measurement in the civil service: an assessment of the Singapore and New Zealand experiences, David Seth Jones; Making a 'success' out of failure: darker reflections on private and public management, Tony Cutler; Index.

Mike Dent is Professor of Health Care Organisation at Staffordshire University. John Chandler is Principal Lecturer and Jim Barry is Professor of Gender and Organisation, both at the University of East London Business School.