Donner sens aux méthodes de modernisation de l'administration

Abstract

An important feature of modernisation policy has been the introduction of tools or methods such as quality, management control, evaluation and so on. These are often presented as the solution to all management problems in public administration. However, a method becomes unproductive when it is an end in itself and when it claims to be universally applicable. The administration is not a self-sufficient machine, closed on itself; it is open and it has links with the political sphere, society, and the economy. It is necessary therefore to ensure that methods used for modernising the administration serve a real purpose: not only to put them explicitly at the service of a political and social goal that is broader than a basic efficiency drive, but also to actually enable managers and staff to buy into it. In this way, the method can become an "approach" in the sense of a shared culture of progress, and this is a key to its success.