Reclaiming the Public Manager

• Published in: Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences Vol. 3; no. 19; pp. 36 - 50
• Main Author: Andrew CARDOW
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca 01-02-2007
• Subjects: community; private sector; public manager; public sector; public services
• ISSN: 1842-2845

This article adds to the existing discussion regarding the NPM, and more specifically addresses the role of managerial identity that is often ignored within the existing literature. The research was conducted utilising a grounded, qualitative methodology. The data was analysed utilising the tools of critical discourse. Throughout the article a case will be made that the introduction of private sector ‘business paradigms’ have led the managers to seek their legitimacy and their sense of identity not from the public sector but from the private sector. In doing so they have distanced themselves from the public, the owners of the assets they manage. The research is a qualitative study that highlights the conflict between identity and community expectation. The implications suggest that managers of local government business operations need to be aware of the possible conflict that can arise through seeking identity with the private sector in that it may lead to distancing themselves from the public they serve. The practical implications lie in being able to recognise that too close an identity with “normal” business practice can conflict with provision of public services