Ethics and new public management mantra in the United Kingdom public sector

Abstract

This short article will explore the value base that underpins New Public Management and its interplay with ethics in the UK public sector. For example, the public sector’s business-like operations, individual responsibility and mistrust of human behaviour amongst others will be brought to the fore. Furthermore, this article will also explore how ethics/standards have become a ‘managed’ process, e.g. reports, audit amongst others. Notwithstanding the views to the contrary, this article will advocate that the values inherent in the New Public Management doctrine has not led to the erosion of ethical standards. This article is divided into six sections. The first section is the introduction. This section will define ethics and the New Public Management (NPM) mantra. The second section will  well on the expected ethical standards and effects of New Public Management in the UK public sector. The third section will focus on the values of NPM in the UK public sector. Organizational impacts of NPM will be the focus of the fourth section of the article. The fifth section of the article will dwell on the criticisms of NPM and its interplay in the public sector. The final section is the conclusion. Here, a summary will be attempted and the article will posit that NPM is not inherently bad.

Keywords: New Public Management, Public Sector Ethics, Values of NPM, Organizational structure of NPM.