Mechanisms of change in public management projects

Abstract

This article draws conclusions from four separate case evaluations from different development programs in Finland and aims to discuss the role of welfare state values in new public management. The study develops a comprehensive picture of the change in public management since 2000. The synthesis of the four case studies follows the critical realism tradition. This article shows that cooperation forms the key mechanism in all public administration projects and in any changes to their structure. The new structure is the postmodern service production sector that still faces many challenges with regard to the traditional welfare state values. One of these is the conflict between the deep-seated moral imperatives of the old welfare state and the goal-attainment priorities of the new public management. While evaluation research has become one of the operations in public administration that fulfills the control function, the value bases of society, management, and evaluations should be balanced together. Also the objectives of public management and evaluations should be more clearly defined in relation to values other than efficiency. An applied science, like evaluation, needs basic social research to formulate, recognize, and conceptualize the new public management structure. Furthermore, there is an urgent requirement to address those values that underpin society as a whole. © The Author(s) 2013.