A) When was the managerial model applied to the public sector?

UNIT6

Public Sector Reforms

PARTI

Discussion

Were there many differences in management styles between private and public sectors in the twentieth century? Support your answer with arguments.

Text A

The main reason for the eclipse of the old traditional model of administration is simply that it did not work any more, and was widely perceived as not working. Governments realized this first and began to challenge some of the most basic beliefs of the traditional model. They began to hire economists or people trained in management instead of generalist administrators, borrowed management techniques from the private sector, pushed back the dividing line between public and private sector activity with the aim of cutting costs, and set out to change working conditions inside the system which were no longer required.

Governments were faced with declining real revenue, but with political demands to maintain services at the same level. In these circumstances, the only avenue was to improve productivity. When theories suggest that bureaucratic provision is inherently inefficient, when economic studies show the same thing, it is little wonder that politicians began to ask awkward questions. Why should public servants have permanent, lifetime employment when no one else does; why should they not be hired by contracts? If someone is employed to do a job, what is so wrong in seeing if it is being carried out?

The public services had lost public support to such an extent that governments found little resistance to changes that would have once been regarded as destroying the very notion of a public service. And, once change began, the various aspects of the traditional model of administration were taken apart.

2. Give the English equivalents to the following words and phrases, if possible, without referring to the text.

9. потерять поддержку общества / государственную

a) When was the managerial model applied to the public sector?