New public management (A study on grand municipalities and municipalities)

Public management (concept) has always been existed since the state emerged and reached at the current position after the developments about the methods in the theory of public management. It has been continuing to affect the lives of the people today as in the past. Private management which benefited from public management in the past has evolved into a new from during the past decades. On the other hand, public management has lagged behind the private sector management and become insufficient to meet the expectations about the service quality, efficiency and productivity. There are two aspects of this study. In theoretical part, the conventional management approach has been examined with respect to structure, performance, system, personnel and public domain. The basic drawbacks of this classical management approach have been explained. Then the new public management concept which is very popular in European countries and the United States has been examined with respect to structure, period, strategic targets, potentials and management culture. It has been aimed to compare the classical and new approaches; to determine the limitations and drawbacks of the conventional approach and how to avoid them and to build a theoretical base for the application part in these two chapters. In the application part, the effects of the new public management approach on municipalities and greater municipalities in Turkey have been examined. The aim of the study is to determine the current administrative and organizational structure, their management strategies, relations with the employees and the public and management cultures. Also, the question of whether the municipalities have been affected by the new approach or not and the possibility of a homogeneity between municipalities and greater municipalities have been examined. A poll has been conducted and results were analyzed by using SPSS program. Based on the results of the analysis in our study we can summarize our main findings as following:. Senior managers appeared fully aware of new public management approach;. Municipalities show the characteristics of classical management approach with respect to organizational and personnel structure;. There seems to be a lack of computational mechanism;. Lack of skilled personnel seemed the most serious constraint upon the effective service;. Computer-based technology is not being used effectively as a mean of information and communication;. There seems to be a homogeneity between the municipalities and the greater municipalities. In short, municipalities have been benefited from new public management approach to a great extents. Senior managers of the municipalities seemed to be familiar to new public management approach but the municipalities have not been able to get rid of the classical management approach get. XVII