Participants will gain an insight into the concept of public value, which bridges ideas of traditional Weberian administration with more recent ideas of New Public Management. Basically, the public value approach reconciles tensions between the two paradigms by taking into account the need for balancing values in the light of better social outcomes. Against this background, public value is regarded as the guiding principle for the public sector. The public value discussion has roots in the idea of Mark H. Moore – Harvard Kennedy School of Government – that public intervention should aim to meet citizens’ needs and expectations in a fair, effective and accountable way.
Participants will be introduced to a new method of assessing public value using the Public Value Scorecard. Human resource management (HRM) must take a more active role in terms of creating and implementing management principles. Leadership, collaboration guidelines, and staff training are valuable tools to develop competencies (also supported by new technology).
Moreover, public values entail an ethical dimension while they offer a broader way of measuring government performance and guiding policy decisions. Ethical standards play an important role in orienting administrative behaviour towards securing public values.