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NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, INTRODUCTION, Public Administration has remained a dynamic discipline. Change was visible with the abandonment of politics – administration dichotomy and re-establishing a link between the two in the context of public policy making. Policy making was considered the essence of public administration. The discipline and practice of public administration which had all along emphasized principles and work procedures gradually underwent a transformation. The influence of the ‘New Public Administration’ movement has been a turning point in this change process., NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: EMERGENCE AND GROWTH, It was during 1967-68 that various efforts were initiated in the USA, with the aim of providing a multidisciplinary, public policy and social equity-oriented focus to public administration. The significant landmarks in this direction include:, 1. The Honey Report on Higher Education for Public Service, 2. The Philadelphia Conference on the Theory and Practice of Public Administration., 3. The Minnowbrook Conference – I, 4. The Minnowbrook Conference - II, However, the major contributions towards the emergence of New Public Administration has come from the two Minnowbrook Conferences, which has been discussed below:, THE FIRST MINNOWBROOK CONFERENCE: The 1960s in the USA was marked by on optimistic view about public administration’s ability to solve the country’s technological as well as social problems. It was against this backdrop that in 1968 Dwight Waldo of Syracuse University had taken the initiative of examining certain key concerns. This conference was held at Minnowbrook by the young scholars of Public Administration under the guidance of Dwight Waldo. The basic objective of this was to examine the ways of making public administration responsive to social concerns and assume the role of a change agent in reforming the society. The New Public Administration emerged out the discourses of this conference. The Minnowbrook Conference focused on certain important concerns of public administration. These included:, In addition to efficiency and economy, in implementation of policies social equity, was considered a key objective., The earlier notion of public administrators being mere implementers of fixed decisions, it was felt, is no longer valid. In addition, values such as ethics, honesty and responsibility in the provision of public service holds good in the practice of public administration., The Minnowbrook perspective argued that, as public needs change, government agencies often outlive their purposes. Hence wherever needed, cut back of government agencies needs to be resorted to., Responsive government has to manage change, not just growth., Active and participative citizenry, it has been considered, needs to be a part of public administration., The efficacy and usefulness of the concept of hierarchy have been challenged., Though pluralism is accepted as a useful device for explaining the exercise of public power, it is felt, that it has ceased to be the standard for the practice of public administration., NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: GOALS, The scholars emphasised on five major goals that public administration needs to take cognisance of, namely relevance, values, social equity, change and client orientation., Relevance: The scholars desired radical changes in the curriculum of the discipline to make it more relevant to the realities of public life., Values: It was held that commitment to values would enable the discipline to promote the cause of the disadvantaged sections in society. According to Nicholas Henry (1975) “The focus was disinclined to examine such traditional phenomena as efficiency, effectiveness, budgeting and administrative techniques, conversely the NPA was very much aware of normative theory, philosophy and activism. The question it raised dealt with values, ethics ….. if there was an overriding tone to the NPA, it was a moral tone”., Social Equity: The then prevailing social unrest in the society, strengthened the belief that social equity needs to be the primary aspect of administration. The conference made a plea for distributive justice and equity to be the basic concerns of Public Administration. George Frederickson (1971) considered that public administration which fails to work for changes to redress the deprivation of minorities is likely to be eventually used to repress the minorities., Change: The conference attempted to make the discipline more relevant and social equity oriented through change and innovation. The administrator was considered a change agent. Hence, the discipline needs to be receptive to change., Participation: The conference advocated greater participation by all employees in an organization in matters of public policy formulation, implementation and revision. In addition, participation from individuals and groups from outside the organization was sought to make public administration more responsive and client-oriented., Client Orientation: It was the first Minnowbrook conference that had taken the lead in identifying client orientation as a key goal of public administration. This called for a change in the attitudes of bureaucrats to be people-oriented., NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: FEATURES, George Frederickson has referred to certain key features of New Public Administration. These are:, Change and Responsiveness: There is change all over in the social, political, economic and technological environments. This calls for administration to bring about necessary and appropriate changes internally as well as externally to the environment. Necessary flexibility and adaptability also need to be introduced in the functioning of administration., Rationality: This calls for judging the efficacy of administrators’ actions not only from their point of view of the government, but also from the citizens’ perspective., Structural Changes: New Public Administration calls for experimenting with different organisational structures in tune with the relevant situation and needs of environment. There is need for small, decentralised, flexible hierarchies to facilitate citizen interaction., Emphasis on Multi-disciplinary Perspective: Public Administration is influenced not just by one single thought, but several knowledge streams. Hence, an understanding of various approaches including political, management, human relations, is essential to contribute to its growth., The dominant themes deliberated in the conference included relevance and anti positivism, dissatisfaction with the state of the discipline, and a concern for ethics, motivation, improved human relations, client-centered responsiveness and social equity., THE SECOND MINNOWBROOK CONFERENCE, The Second Minnobrook Conference was held after a gap of twenty years. The conference, held on September 4, 1988, was attended by sixty-eight scholars, and practitioners of public administration and other disciplines such as history, economics, political science, psychology and so on. The conference was held against the backdrop of the changing role of state and government, more privatisation, contracting out, and increasing role for non-state actors in the governance process., Major Thrust Areas, Eleven themes emerged out of the deliberations of Minnowbrook II. The first five themes provided a historical perspective, which aimed at comparing the discussion at Minnowbrook II with the legacy of Minnowbrook I. The last six themes focus on the current and future visions of the theme. These are discussed below:, Though social equity was a predominant theme at Minnowbrook I, it was felt that in the present times it is much closer to reality than it was in 1968., Strong concerns were expressed about democratic values and the centrality of public administration in promoting them. The concern was manifest in the focus on ethics, accountability and leadership in public administration., Diversity in society and in the work force was accepted as a basic value among the participants. Diversity was identified in three main contexts: the issue of generalists vs. specialists; racial, ethnic and sexual diversity; and gender diversity. But not much attention was given towards the reality that heterogeneity brings, and on the conflict resolution strategies, arbitration skills and values clarification., The radical reforms that emerged from the discussions in the conference were considered to be in the nature of short-term goals. It was felt that the environment in which public administration must perform is so complex that a meaningful long-term vision is neither reasonable nor perhaps even possible., There was a strong negative attitude towards business as an enterprise. The deliberations exhibited a disdainful acceptance of capitalism and business. Impatience with the constraints of public personnel systems was evident. A need was felt for innovative personnel practices, to bring out the best in the employees and reinforce high productivity., Unwillingness to look at the specifics of what government should do was evident. In spite of the discussions focusing on the inevitability of administrators exerting control over policy agendas, the politics-administration dichotomy was still alive., A major thrust at Minnowbrook II was on correcting the imbalance between the public needs in the present times and the resources devoted to their amelioration. To maximise the value of the administrator’s role in these situations, it was felt that a bureaucracy which is concerned more with dialogue and consensus was required. In the backdrop of the American system of government, the bureaucracy needs to consciously utilise the democratic methodologies in its work. Hence, it was emphasised that practising public administrators need to be more proactive in the performance of their duties. Also openness and public participation in administration need to be encouraged., CONCLUSION, New Public Administration that evolved in 1960s in the aftermath of the first Minnowbrook Conference gave primacy to key concerns that had relevance during those times. They included social equity, policy issues, change, participative citizenry, etc. The development that occurred in the 20 years since Minnowbrook - I in the form of regulatory state, less government, more governance, privatisation reflected public’s cynicism towards government. In tune with the changes in economy, technology and employment. The second Minnowbrook Conference, against this background, attempted to examine the future of public administration. The conference made a sincere attempt to highlight some of the themes such as ethics, human relations, social equity, concern for the state of the field, along with current themes such as technology policy, economic and legal perspectives etc. Public administration, the deliberations noted, should draw from, various disciplines that intersect the field and construct a new, more relevant discipline that integrates several selected areas. It was felt that there is need for a theory of public administration with an overarching epistemology and research methodology.