New Public Management

The paper presents an assessment and evaluation of what is termed ‘new public management’ at the end of the 1990s. In order to provide this assessment, new public management is defined in several ways: as a movement, as an academic commentary, and as reformed organizational practice in the public sector. The paper uses the UK health sector to examine some of the assumed relationships between ideology, actions and consequences implied within a broad understanding of new public management. Developments in the UK health sector are used to address assumptions focusing on different aspects of the ideology (private sector practices and markets can increase efficiency in the public sector), actions (introduction of market mechanisms and business-like, practices) and consequences (operational performance, strategic direction, governance and values). Drawing on developments in the UK health sector, an assessment of new public management at the end of the 1990s sees it much diversified and expanded from original conceptions, which are ensuring its contested survival as a movement, as an academic commentary, and as reformed organizational practice in the UK despite a change of government in 1997.