he art of governing is changing as each day passes. It is also becoming more restrained. An increasingly open international economy puts a premium on national competitiveness and highlights the mutual dependence of the public and private sectors. While citizen demand is becoming more diversified and sophisticated, at the same time the ability of governments to respond to stubborn societal problems is being questioned. Meanwhile, large public debt and fiscal imbalances limit governments' room to maneuver.
As a consequence, important changes are taking place in the way the public sector is managed in countries around the world. Administrative modernization has been ongoing for decades, but the pace of change has picked up in recent years as governments react to new pressures and prepare to deal with current and emerging challenges. In many countries, a fundamental shift is being attempted: Countries are transforming their centralized, hierarchical and rule-driven administrations to organizations characterized by devolved management and market orientation. Emphasis has shifted from mere compliance with procedures to concern for results. The changes are, in many cases, seen as both fundamental and irreversible.
International Public Management
Earlier this year in Paris, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) gathered senior political officials responsible for public management in OECD-member countries to discuss their experiences in public management reform and to address the question of how public management institutions need to adapt to effectively carry out the future activities of their governments.
This first-ever symposium was chaired by Alice M. Rivlin, director of the U.S. government's Office of Management and Budget, and was designed to encourage ministers and other political officials to discuss public management topics within the framework of three broad themes:
- The setting: changing the scope, role and structure of governments;
- A context of evolving relationships: the media, information technology, interest groups and democratic accountability;
- Managing for the future: seeking solutions to long-range problems in a world that demands immediate action.
What emerged from the symposium discussions was a considerable degree of consensus. This demonstrates that public management has entered mainstream political culture in OECD-member countries. Most of the participants' governments face pressures that are leading to changes in both the structure and role of government. Almost all of the member countries have undertaken public management reform efforts, and many see them as a continuing process. Despite the structural differences in culture and government, OECD nation officials have much in common: similar pressures, responses and dilemmas.
Management Can't Stand Alone
Rivlin summed up the most powerful conclusion of the symposium thus: "If governments don't work well, economies won't work well." Public management is no longer seen as a stand-alone endeavor. It is seen as intrinsically tied up with economic performance. As Director Rivlin put it in her statement to the symposium, "The quality and effectiveness of governance is crucial to national prosperity." But it is not simply a technical matter of getting the structure of public sector institutions right. There are strong political, economic and social dimensions. The symposium participants recognized the benefits of public consultation but were concerned about the costs, mobilizing public support and dealing with special interest groups.
What also became apparent was that reform efforts are likely to fail if management considerations are seen as distinct from budgetary policies. Countries moving toward public sector reform are building alliances between these efforts and see them as mutually reinforcing.
Indeed, important aspects of many reform agendas are inherently budgetary in nature. These include controlling the costs of direct government operations, providing financial flexibility to permit resources to be used more effectively, financing essential training, reallocating tasks to the private or voluntary sectors and assessing performance.
The symposium revealed a concept of public management that goes far beyond the analytic and administrative tools of administration. Public administration, the participants concluded, also involves the way democratic governmental bodies function in a complex world economy, and requires public administrators to balance the competing demands of citizens.
In the course of the symposium, the participants underlined the fundamental nature of modern public management reform, and identified a set of complex dilemmas. The officials recognized the necessity of improving service delivery, treating citizens more like customers and devolving more authority to lower levels of government, independent units of government or non-governmental entities.
Still, symposium participants were unwilling to concede all functions to other governing entities. Traditional responsibilities of the state, such as protector of the general interest, the keeper of law and order, the champion of fairness and equity and the caretaker for disadvantaged or handicapped citizens must remain in the hands of national governments, they argued. h
The OECD's Public Management (PUMA) Service is a principal source of information and analytic work about the capacity of OECD countries to govern. PUMA studies the ability of these countries to make policy, allocate resources and set rules. You can contact PUMA on the Internet at: http://www.oecd.org/puma.
"Governance in Transition," PUMA's recent study of public sector management reforms in OECD countries, is available by calling (202) 785-6323.
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