ABSTRACT
Since 1984, New Zealand has implemented a radical series of economic and labor market structural and operational reforms, which have been designed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government agencies. These reforms were the most thorough in New Zealand's history, and the changes were ranked as being among the most radical and comprehensive undertaken anywhere in the world. The scope and scale of change was significant and involved commercialization, corporatization, privatization, the restructuring of numerous government departments, the introduction of a new form of public financial management, and major changes to industrial relations. The reforms were implemented with a view to providing a more responsive public service and were implemented within an extremely short time frame. The key outcomes sought by the government were
To have a competitive labor market
To reduce the amount of government spending
