Market mechanism and public service delivery Essay

Market mechanism and public service delivery - Essay Example In the last few decades,public administration has witnessed a deep process of reform in order to "make publicly-owned services and enterprises more business - like".For, public administration has increasingly translated into public governance and huge behemoths in the public sector are expected to be run more efficiently at reduced costs. In other words, it is expected that the public administration become competitive in delivering goods and services. Governments are expected to strategise a country's developmental priorities by providing an efficient, responsive and transparent public administration. Countries have now moved to a mix of market-based or competitive governance and civic-based or partnership governance. This has been brought about by the changing role of the state and the growing businesslike and managerial approach to the operations of Public Administration. A new fragmented and complex world of markets and networks has pushed governments to move from a direct deliver y of services to a more general coordination and control of government functions. While, there is substantial scope for increase in delivery of public services through the market mechanism, there are several limitations and impediments too.In a globalised era, public administration, or the delivery of public services considered as universal needs and much needed socio-economic infrastructure to civil society are proving to be a tough and complex task. Since Public Administration includes within its ambit political, economic and social governance, governments across the world are having to function in an environment marked by increased public scrutiny. This has arisen out of increasing democratization and the diffusion of ideas arising from the implosion of information and communication technologies. Text of the article Since the time of Plato, Aristotle and Kautilya, good public managers have been recognized as those with sound judgement, a sense of justice and courage to take action on behalf of the good of society. Traditionally, public administration entities ie government institutions responsible for providing vital services have been state-centric, huge, self sufficient monoliths, hierarchical in their relations and also inclined towards a controlling order. Since early Public service mechanism 2 times, the public administration in countries has been providing services essential to society, some of them considered as fundamental rights of the citizens, like the right to water. In addition, law and order, health, education and building infrastructure viz. roads, transportation including railways and aviation, telecommunication, sewage, energy and a host of other services have come within the ambit of public administration. Publicly owned services and industries are controlled by the central governments. These state-owned enterprises or services do not generate any profit and provide essential services for the entire population. The cost of providing these services is met from taxation money. Local bodies are entrusted with certain civic functions including waste management, maintenance of parks etc. The main advantage in public owned enterprises or services is that jobs for workers in these institutions are secure and unemployment does not