A third important theoretical root of the New Public Service is organizational humanism. Over the past thirty years, public administration theorists have joined colleagues in other disciplines in suggesting that traditional hierarchi- cal approaches to social organization are restrictive in their view of human behavior, and they have joined in a critique of bureaucracy and a search for alternative approaches to management and organization. Collectively, these approaches have sought to fashion public organizations less dominated by issues of authority and control and more attentive to the needs and concerns of internal and external constituents.