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New Public Management: The Characteristics Of New Public Management

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New Public Management (NPM) is a revolution in public management since 1980s, which adopts economic market as a model for political-administrative relationship to boost efficiency (Hope, 2001). Illustrated by Hong Kong The Link REIT and London Olympics outsourcing security contracts, the following essay will introduce the characteristics of NPM and its impacts on the operation and management of the modern governments.

NPM is characterized by Hood (1991) in seven aspects, supported by the example of the Link REIT which the government hived off assets from the Housing Authority and experienced privatization.

The first is adoption of managerialism and marketization (Boston, 1996). Mangers of Link are free to exercise discretionary power through formulating and implementing plans on renovation, acquisition and sales of properties.

The second characteristic is specification in performance. Link replaced the Housing Authority to administrate the public housing and relating facilities. Clarification of aims and obligations to the non-public agency are important to maintain the service standard and measuring performances.

The next two characteristics are decentralization and competition. In the traditional mode, public administration is under the formal control of the political leadership (Wilson, 1887). Under NPM, management authority is decentralized through delegation of management authority and forming of new government structure. Link is subject to no restrictions e.g.
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