Public Value Management: New Paradigm in public Administration Based on Public Values

Citizens in a society are the main owners of the political system and public management. The extent of involvement in the country and public management has been different concerning the evolution trend of paradigms and theories of political sciences and public management in different  time periods. The initial paradigm in public management is the same as the Technocratic  and  Instrumentalist traditional public administration   which was based on the maximum government and the minimum involvement of citizens in public administration. Shifting from the paradigm of traditional public management to the new public management, the minimum government and   citizens maximum involvement and privatization were emphasized. Beyond the new public management and moving toward the paradigm of public value management, the interaction between public management and citizen was considered concerning the ethical and institutional approach. In this paradigm, the values of citizens rights, democracy, institutionalism, serving people, involvement, social capital, and civil society have been considered more than before. Further, the realm of public power in the public value management, bureaucracy and the market has been developed to the wider domains in civil society and governance networks. In the paradigm of public value management, the power is, in nature, various and many partners from different parts of the government, businesses, and NGOs involve in creating and protecting public values.

The historical trend of paradigms in public management developing from the traditional public management to the paradigm of public value management is affected by the trend of this maximum government to maximum democracy. The paradigm of traditional public management was consistent with  maximum government. In the transition from the paradigm of traditional public management to new  public management  and to public value management, we witness the strengthening of non-governmental sectors and civil society which means moving toward perfect and democratic governance. In this paradigm, the process of transferring power from the state to sectors outside the realm of government (e.i the private sectors and civil society) has been greatly considered. In this regard, the values of democracy, civil society, social capital, and the synergy of diverse areas of power have increased.

Case Study

The present paper is analytical which theoretically considers the paradigm of public value management as a new paradigm in public management. The case studies and field studies are not considered in this paper.

Theoretical Framework

The paradigm of the public value management which is similar to the new public services highlights the citizen’s behaviors, network governance and  participatory governance. The public value management aims to develop a discourse of collective co-creation values, democratic values in the path of good  governance. The public value management believes in the reflection of new public services in the community, the continuous improvement and citizens’ satisfaction. Stability, a dominant feature of the traditional public management paradigm, is not credible in the public value management discourse, and stability is replaced by change , learning  and innovation. Public value management seeks to synergize public sector actions and decisions with the resources of the private sectors and NGOs. Public value management emphasizes the development of the capabilities of mutual and collective relationships, and accountability is the result of the active participation of citizens. Democracy and the consolidation of direct participation styles of citizens are centered by public value management, and the power is distributed in a vast network of society actors.

In the present study, we sought to study the paradigms of public management by scrutinizing the scientific resources in public management. In this regard, the present study used a deductive and content analysis approach derived from published articles on public value management.

Public value management results from the empowerment of civil society and organized social networks and the move toward the discourse of good governance and  democratic governance which requires a re-creation of social capital in government-nation relations. In this discourse, the political activists of the society and the managers of the public sector tend to create public values to pursue the public interests of the society. The process of identifying and accepting public values in society takes place in the context of collective wisdom and comprehensive public participation. Accordingly, a wide range of community activists actively involved in creating, accepting, institutionalizing, implementing these public values, and ultimately judging the extent of realization of these public values.  In the discourse of public value management, there is a kind of pluralistic attitude toward the expected public values. This discourse considers a logical combination of intra-organizational and extra-organizational values in the context of civil society and democracy. Instead of focusing merely on results and practices, public value management highlights the relationships and networks of cooperation between internal and external sectors. Public value management seeks to combine the expected values of government, private sector activists, and civic institutions. Thus, multidimensional attitudes toward political, legal, economic, and social values, innovative learning, and environmental values are emphasized in public value management. Collaboration and co-creation patterns in the relationships of different activists in society beyond organizational and geographical boundaries have modified the function of public management.

The paradigm of public value management does not seek to completely negate the paradigms of traditional and new public management, and most of the good and public values in such managements are considered in the paradigm of public value management. Concerning the final result of the paradigm of public management, the paradigm of public value management seeks to reconcile the power, policy, efficiency, and rationality with civil ethics, social justice, and accountability. In this regard, the paradigm of public value management attempts to strongly recreate the link between public administration and politics, ethics and democracy more than before.