The perspectives of lean management principles in the new public management
The perspectives of lean management principles in the new public management

Summary/Abstract: It is well known that public administrations are under the increasing pressure to improve their effectiveness in providing better quality services to their citizens. This paper critically appraises aspects related to the impact of the New Public Management on the organizational performance of public administration, based on the critical theories underlying the NPM paradigm: public choice theory, principal - agent theory, competition theory and the theory of the transaction cost economics. Components of the NPM such as restructuring, work process reengineering, organizational reinvention, activity - based costing and re-conceptualization are assessed in terms of Lean Management principles in an attempt to give public administration a new orientation towards performance and excellence. This paper contributes to identifying the general framework, the factors and the Lean Management criteria that are essential for the successful implementation of Lean practices in the area of public administration in the future. Finally, the paper discusses this novel perspective for the reform of the public sector and contributes to research on the challenges facing public governance and its response to the rapidly changing social, economic and political milieu.

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