NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND THE ELUSIVE QUEST FOR CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS

Afegbua Salami Issa

Department of Public Administration

Lagos State University, Ojo

Prejossha@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The paper examined New Public Management and the search for Conceptual Frameworks. The paper examined the inadequacies and confusion in the adoption of various conceptual frameworks in the interpretations, analysis and synthesis of the New Public Management. The paper submitted that NPM is a rhetorical and conceptual construction and, like all such constructions, it is open to re-interpretation and shift in usages over time. The NPM concept is also prone to shift in meaning when it crosses language barrier. The paper concludes that for a generally accepted conceptual framework should be established for the examination and analysis of the New Public Management. (NPM),  it is when this is done that the risk of management-led reforms losing sight of the underlying social purposes of public services will be prevented.