Public Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Public Management - Essay Example But in recent time, the emphasis on New Public Management/ Public sector management approaches has forced public organizations to pay closer attention to their services delivery as con summers have begun to expect and demand more for their tax dollars". In this instance, no consumer of public goods and services are content with grumbling about poorly- produced goods and services and the under-qualified, untrained employees who render these services to them. Hence, as societies become more critical and litigious, public service organizations must seek all possible avenues for improving their output and providing the satisfaction their clients require and deserve. This couple with the complex nature of governance in contemporary times, where government partakes in nearly every sector of the economy (statism) in service provision (though there is a reduction in this through the privatization policies of must governments), then there is the need to ensure that quality service is delivere d. Strategic management is usually associated with private organizations that operate in a competitive environment, but now it is a noticeable management technique adopted in the New Public Management, as a concept and practice, by public sector organizations. This essay tends to look at the advantages and disadvantages associated with the adoption of strategic management in public sector organizations. Also, the argument on the difference context of strategic management in the private and public sectors would be deliberated upon. CONCEPTUALIZATION OF TERM Strategic Management: strategic management involves a rational planning process directed towards achieving clearly defined coherent goals. According to Armitage (1992), strategic management is a continuous process that works to fit an organization into its changing environment. Strategic management is a broader concept than strategic planning. In the sense that strategic planning (or long- range planning) is traditionally regarded as a period process to develop long-range plans for the organization. On the other hand strategic management encompasses both strategic decisions making and strategic planning. Thus, strategic management focuses on any strategic decision that must be made, regardless of its time frame and the planning necessary to complement that decision. Strategic management is then conceive as "a continuous activity of setting and maintaining the strategic direction of the organization and its business, and making decisions on a day- to day basis to deal with changing ci rcumstances and the challenges of the business results; it is all about people, leadership, technology and processes. Effective combination of these elements will help with strategic direction and successful service delivery (OGC, 2005). New Public Management: the concept of new public management differs from