The Social Context of a ‘Value-For-Money’-Based Administrative Reform (original) (raw)

International Review of Administrative Sciences, 2000

Abstract

Introduction Browsing through the administrative reform programmes of developed countries (OECD 1997a, 1998a) and the related bibliography (Halachmi, 1999), it is obvious that these programmes consist of tools which refer to different scientific models. No doubt, all these programmes have some common ideas, but they lack a unifying concept that could serve as a comprehensive descriptive and analytical framework and, at the same time, produce new actions and combinations of actions. The lack of a homogenous theoretical background for administrative reforms, which could be attributed, among others, to the general theoretical insufficiency of modern administrative science, can not be overcome by just solving problems pragmatically. This reaction, although insufficient, has been adopted by the majority of experts, politicians and bureaucrats and has set the pace for modern administrative reforms. It is worth mentioning that the old schism between the rational–normative and empirical–descriptive sciences still seems to exist despite the efforts to surpass it (Luhmann, 1966). As we wait, however, for administrative science to react ahead of the administrative reality, it has become imperative to elaborate descriptive models for the comprehension of administrative reality — or better still administrative realities. Such models are of great value for countries and administrations that apply reform programmes, since they provide a framework and help to avoid unnecessary actions in the sense of resources saving. In search of such a concept we meet the ‘value for money’ (VFM) principle. There is no doubt that the VFM principle is implicit in most — if not all — modern administrative reforms. Better Quality Services at Optimal Cost (Cabinet Office, 1999) seems to be a self-evident strategy for public administrations that undertake a reformative process. This principle, substantiated in modern administrative reforms, unifies the two different managerial philosophies that are known through the entrepreneurial

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