THE MAIN EFFECTS OF THE CHANGES
These developments are designed to bring about major improvements in the quality,
efficiency and effectiveness of public services. These can be argued to result from:
1. The focus of attention on what is required from a service. When a service is
controlled directly it can too easily be assumed that there is understanding of
what is required, whereas the reality may be that it has never been clarified
or communicated. The experience of competitive tendering in local govemment
has illustrated this (Walsh 1991).
2. An emphasis upon what is achieved and on the quality of perfonnance. By
specifying what is required, by the development of contracts, by the regulatory
role, and by the development of performance measures, attention is focused
upon achievement.
3. The release of management potential through the devolution of finance and
management responsibility and through new staffing policies.
4. The breaking down of the barriers that have built enclosed organizations in
the public sector, through an emphasis on the customer and the challenge to
the professional and administrative cultures.
5. The use of a variety of methods of provision to encourage innovation and
experiment.
6. Competitive and trading mechanisms used to stimulate the search for economy,
efficiency and effectiveness.
The degree to which there will actually be improvement is a matter for investigation,
and there has been, as yet, little systematic study of the results of the new
management on the services provided.