E. Ferlie, A. Pettigrew, L.Ashburner and L. FitzGerald, The New Public Management In Action
| Published date | 01 September 1998 |
| Author | Rob Baggott |
| Date | 01 September 1998 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9299.00119 |
REVIEWS
THE NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN ACTION
E. Ferlie, A. Pettigrew, L. Ashburner, L. FitzGerald
Oxford University Press, 1996. £35 (cloth), £14.99 (paper)
This book is a welcome addition to the ‘new public management’ literature. The main contri-
bution of Ferlie and colleagues lies in their presentation of primary and secondary empirical
findings within a coherent theoretical framework. Unlike some studies in this field, they do not
fall into the trap of merely documenting and describing the various public sector management
initiatives since 1979. Instead they focus primarily on two sectors – health and education –
and explore the impact of the various initiatives upon organization and management. The
material on health is particularly good, arising out of the authors’ own highly regarded
research programme. However, there is an inevitable price to be paid. By concentrating on
only two sectors, as the authors themselves recognize, the wider significance of their findings
for other parts of the public sector can be questioned. It should also be mentioned that while
the authors demonstrate an awareness of developments in other countries, the principal focus
is on the UK and England in particular.
The book opens with a competent overview of ‘new public management’. Subsequent chap-
ters explore public sector restructuring, the creation and evolution of quasi-markets, trans-
formational change, board composition and processes, professionals and public management,
and accountability. The chapters are clearly set out and generally well written. The concluding
chapter draws out some of the themes developed earlier in values in either health or education,
though in health an embryonic shift in cognitive frameworks is identified. In health care, the
authors argue that the medical profession remains powerful and in some respects has gained
autonomy and influence by taking on managerial roles. They conclude that a uni-directional
shift of power from professions to managers in health care is unsubstantiated, a finding sup-
ported by other studies (S. Walby and J. Greenwell. 1994. Medicine and Nursing: Professions in
a Changing Health Service. London: Sage). More generally, the authors find that ‘new public
management’ has brought about substantial changes, but the effect has not been uniform.
Moreover, the outcome of reform has often been complex, resulting in an accommodation of
new ideas and processes rather than a complete replacement of the old systems and values.
The book ends with the usual call for more research, particularly cross-sector and cross-
national comparisons, and for the development of appropriate conceptual tools, including
more robust models of accountability.
Perhaps the authors could have been a little more ambitious in setting out a new direction,
particularly in the field of conceptual frameworks. They are also a little reticent in setting out
how the new public management might develop (although published in 1996, the book could
have been written with the possibility of a change in government more explicitly in mind).
One or two other critical points can also be made. The book focuses on organizational change,
but more detail on the actual impact of management reforms on efficiency, effectiveness and
equity would have been welcome. After all, these outcomes have fed back into the policy
debate, thereby generating further initiatives and change. This leads on to another point. The
study does not attach sufficient weight to the political context of managerial reform. Although
new right ideas and the approach of the Thatcher government are discussed, the analysis of
the politics of management reform is not well-developed. In particular, the continuities and
Public Administration Vol. 76 Autumn 1998 (590–599)
Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street,
Malden, MA 02148, USA.
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