Running Head: THE NEW PUBLIC SERVICE 1

The New Public Service

(Name)

(Course)

(Institution)
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The New Public Service

The new public service book describes a set of practices and norms that emphasize on the

reaffirmation of democratic service, citizenship, and values which are the basis for the public

administration practice and theory (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015). The authors revisit some of the

core arguments of the new public service and evaluate how they have been studied and practiced

over the years. This book gives detailed information to public administrators and policymakers

on the importance, the values, ideas, and actions that should guide us in the public service.

Therefore this paper will seek to address various questions that have been covered from chapter

one to four.

1. What are the key elements of Old Public Administration (OPA)?

Over the years, public administration has undergone a series of revolution. Despite the

contradictions from different practitioners and scholars in the early development of public

administration field, there are key element that stood out. These include:

1. Administrators are responsible to their democratically elected political leaders.

2. The primary values of public entities are based on rationality and efficiency.

3. The administration is a predictable, rule-governed and continuous where administrators

are appointed on the basis of qualifications.

4. Resources usually belong to an organization and public servants should serve the

interests of the public and not private interests

5. The focus of government should be on direct delivery of services through new or

existing authorized government agencies

6. Public administration and policy should be concerned in implementing policies that have

a defined political objective.

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7. Citizen’s involvement in operations of public organizations should be limited as they

should operate as closed systems.

2. What are the key elements of New Public Management (NPM)?

New public management is the cluster of contemporary practices and idea that are used

by the private sector and various business approaches in the public sector. It raises the idea of

"public entrepreneurs" or "run the government like a business”. The NPM was first crystallized

by Ted Gaebler and David Osborne in the year 1992 which brought about the new movement

that has been implemented around the world in the public sector (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015).

The NPM rose top to address the various limitations of the old public administration by adjusting

to the different demands of the evolving and competitive market demand. The key elements of

NPM are:

1. It pays great attention to the lessons that are derived from the private sector management.

2. This approach focuses on entrepreneurial leadership found within the various public

service organizations.

3. It emphasizes on the input and output evaluation and control on performance audit and

management.

4. This approach seeks to disaggregate the public service into basic units and focus majorly

on their cost management.

5. It focuses on evaluating the increasing and growing markets, contracts and competitions

to ensure proper allocation of resources and efficient service delivery in the public

sector.

6. It emphasizes on a government that is customer driven to meet the needs of the citizens

and not a bureaucratic system

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3. What are the key elements of New Public Service (NPS)?

Due to the practical and conceptual problems encountered in the old public

administration and NPM approaches, some theorists have developed fresh concepts on public

administration. This theory is associated with democratic citizenship, civil society and

community, postmodernism and organizational humanists. Depending on the theoretical

background, the authors proposed seven principles of NPS which include:

1. The need to serve citizens and not customers. According to Denhardt and Denhardt,

public interest arises as result of shared values by citizens and not an aggregate of

individual self-interest.

2. The second element is the need to seek public interest through collaborative and shared

notion.

3. Advocates the need for public servants and citizens to value their citizenship more than

entrepreneurship.

4. It seeks that all programs and policies should think strategically and act democratically.

5. Advocates the need for public administrators to the serve rather than steer through

shared and value-based leadership

6. Require public administrators to be accountable

7. This approaches encourages public organizations and networks to value people and not

just the productivity part.

4. Discuss the roots of New Public Service.

Like the NPM and the old public administration, the NPS consists of various elements,

and many practitioners and scholars have often contributed in disagreement with each other.

However certain ideas seem to characterize this approach as a model that is normative hence
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distinguishing it from others. Therefore, to portray its uniqueness from other models of public

administration, NPS mainly focuses on contemporary precursors that acts as the roots ranging

from the democratic citizenship theories, community and civil society models, the new public

administration and organizational humanism, and postmodernism (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015).

a) Democratic citizenship: One of the major theoretical roots of NPS is democratic citizenship

which calls for more involved and active citizenship in public administration.

b) Community and civic society: The other roots of the NPS in found in the discussions of civil

society and community where all kinds of people with various visions are accommodated in the

social system.

c) The new public administration and organizational humanism: This is third root where over the

years the theorists of public administration have failed to view human behaviors and range of

human experiences in management of organizations (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015).

d) Postmodernism: The last root of NPS is postmodernism where scholars saw the need to

critically explore the acquisition of knowledge that depicts the rational model of public

administration.

5. What is meant by the element of NPS of "serve citizens, not customers?"

Denhardt and Denhardt contend that public interest does not arise as result of aggregate

individual self-interests but due to the sharing values among the citizens. As emphasized in the

NPM, this element does not respond to the "customer" but focuses on building collaborations

and trust among the citizens. According to the authors, based on rational thinking and model,

there is no individual by nature would sacrifice his/her interest to those of the public interest.

Therefore under this circumstance, the government can no longer act as the source of control or
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authority but act as the center for initiating and coordinating the actions (Denhardt & Denhardt,

2015). This perspective requires the government to be a civic educator and return to the mode of

citizen-oriented service supply.

6. What is meant by the element of NPS of "seek the public interest?"

According to Denhardt and Denhardt, public interest should not be treated as the majority

interest since other different interests should also be given an equal chance in deliberating on

public issues. The old public administration views the public interest as a factor that is expressed

in the law and is defined politically. On the other hand, NPM views public interest as an

aggregate of our interests (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015). However, in the new public service,

public interest should be viewed as the result of dialogue between various shared values.
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References

Denhardt, Robert & Denhardt, Janet. 2015. The New Public Service: Serving, Not Steering 4th

Edition. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN-13: 978-1138891258. (Paperback) (NPS).

Chapter 1-4