International Journal of Public Sector Management: Volume 12 Issue 4

The changing management agenda for primary heads

Norah Jones

There has been unprecedented change in education in the last decade since the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA), and there is little doubt that these changes in education are…

Decoupling managerial audit: Evidence from the local authority children’s homes sector

Martin Kitchener, Ian Kirkpatrick, Richard Whipp

Within discussions of the “new public management” (NPM) it is suggested that professionals increasingly face managerial initiatives that are designed to reduce their autonomy and…

A vehicle for change?: A case study of performance improvement in the “new” public sector

Jacky Holloway, Graham Francis, Matthew Hinton

This paper critiques the notion that a single approach to performance improvement can alone be responsible for significant organisational transformation. We draw on…

Understanding service quality in the new public sector: An exploration of relationships in the process of funding social housing

Christine S. Williams, Mark N.K. Saunders, Roy V.W. Staughton

Highlights the increasing emphasis on customers and service quality in the new public sector. Emphasises the bias towards hard, easily quantifiable data and a focus on external…