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Paradoxes and Pendulum Swings: Performance Management in New Zealand's Public Sector
Author(s) -
Norman Richard,
Gregory Robert
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
australian journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-8500
pISSN - 0313-6647
DOI - 10.1111/j..2003.00347.x
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , public sector , balance (ability) , metaphor , control (management) , quality (philosophy) , state (computer science) , new public management , public administration , economics , political science , political economy , management , economy , politics , law , computer science , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , epistemology , algorithm , physical medicine and rehabilitation
Under New Zealand's radical state sector reforms, ‘empowered’ managers are held accountable in an arm's length way by politicians and control agencies through the use of clearly stated objectives and the availability of quality information about progress towards those objectives. However, empirical research indicates that this thermostatic metaphor embodies a number of paradoxes. A great deal of international attention has been paid to these reforms, but New Zealand has not discovered any ultimate resolution of the fundamental paradox of modern bureaucracy — the tendency for control to subvert purpose — and is now seeking a new ‘balance’ between these two managerial imperatives.